Here are a bunch of little bites to satisfy your hunger for movie culture:

Talk Show Appearance of the Day:

Watch Tom Cruise and Jimmy Fallon act out mummy stories written by kids in this Tonight Show appearance promoting The Mummy:

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Supercut of the Day:

Since Tom Cruise runs in a lot of his films, including The Mummy, here’s an IMDb supercut of people (Cruise included) running in movies:

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Mashup of the Day:

Follow the entire thread that begins with the below tweet from the Blank Check podcast putting lyrics to “How Far I’ll Go” from Moana to images from Wonder Woman:

I know everybody on this island
Seems so happy on this island
Everything is by design… pic.twitter.com/pIiZ50DYFL

— Blank Check Podcast (@blankcheckpod) June 7, 2017

Filmmaker in Focus:

Martin Scorsese isn’t particuarly known for romance pictures, but this video focuses on the love stories within his movies (via Film School Rejects):

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Vintage Image of the Day:

Dean Martin, who was born on this day 100 years ago, practices his golf swing on the set of Airport in 1969:

Actor in the Spotlight:

Kevin Costner discusses his early years in this animated adaptation of a 2012 Esquire interview:

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Casting Rendering of the Day:

You can’t see her face too well, but here’s an awesome interpretation from BossLogic of what Sophie Turner might look like as Dark Phoenix in the next X-Men movie:

Dark Phoenix – @SophieT@XMenMoviespic.twitter.com/KJN8LKT2mr

— BossLogic (@Bosslogic) June 7, 2017

Bad Film Analysis of the Day:

See an alien in the future badly discuss the hidden meaning of Ex Machina in the latest episode of Earthling Cinema:

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Cosplay of the Day:

While not exactly cosplay — the little girl isn’t supposed to be the snowspeeder — this dad-build made for “drive-in movie day” is still very precious (via Geekologie):

6 year old sitting in a cardboard snow speeder

Classic Trailer of the Day:

Today is the 50th anniversary of the release of El Dorado. Watch the original trailer for the classic western below.

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Here are a bunch of little bites to satisfy your hunger for movie culture:

VFX Breakdown of the Day:

Rising Sun Pictures shares an effects reel showcasing their very bloody work on Logan:

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Video Essay of the Day:

Speaking of Logan, Wisecrack explores the philosophy of the new Wolverine movie in this video essay:

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Cosplay of the Day:

We’re still celebrating the release and success of Wonder Woman, so here’s a cosplayer so authentic you’d think she was the real thing.

DC Wonder Woman Diana Prince by kilory on DeviantArt

Redone Trailer of the Day:

Get ready for the upcoming Transformers: The Last Knight with this homemade sweded version of the trailer from CineFix:

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Supercut of the Day:

Roman Holiday compiled 150 instances of movie characters saying the title of the movie they’re in:

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Vintage Image of the Day:

Robert Englund, who turns 70 today, looks dapper in this publicity image for the original A Nightmare on Elm Street in 1984:

Genre History of the Day:

Speaking of slasher movies, here’s a video essay explaining the trope of “the final girl”:

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Movie Trivia of the Day:

With the latest The Mummy reboot out this week, ScreenCrush has a bunch of trivia about the previous versions:

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Movie Takedown of the Day:

And with Cars 3 out soon, Honest Trailers runs over the first two, especially the one they call the worst Pixar movie of all time by a longshot:

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Classic Trailer of the Day:

Today is the 20th anniversary of the release of Con Air. Watch the original trailer for the classic action movie below.

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Here are a bunch of little bites to satisfy your hunger for movie culture:

Easter Eggs of the Day:

You probably saw Wonder Woman over the weekend. Now watch the spoiler-heavy Mr. Sunday Movies video highlighting all its Easter eggs and references:

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Cosplay of the Day:

Obviously we’re celebrating Wonder Woman in this section, especially because the little girls below are too previous to ignore. Click the THR link for more.

‘Wonder Woman’: Young Girls Around the Country Dress as the Heroine For Film’s Opening https://t.co/r1kIrmMBZqpic.twitter.com/JKhzXtzArh

— Hollywood Reporter (@THR) June 3, 2017

Redone Trailer of the Day:

It’s about time we got an obligatory Lego version of the Wonder Woman trailer from Huxley Berg Studios:

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Dream Casting of the Day:

How can DC keep Chris Pine in their extended universe 100 years following the events of Wonder Woman? How about, as BossLogic proposes, casting him as Green Lantern?

I had an idea – what if they make Hal a long distant relative of Steve Trevor both being pilots and WW is thrilled to see the resemblance pic.twitter.com/Y3pHAzuU2U

— BossLogic (@Bosslogic) June 3, 2017

Video Essay of the Day:

Speaking of Chris Pine, The Film Guy examines how Hell or High Water and other movies introduce their characters through tactics in this video essay:

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Vintage Image of the Day:

Ron Livingston, who turns 50 today, and Jennifer Aniston receive direction from Mike Judge on the set of Office Space in 1998:

Actor in the Spotlight:

The latest episode of the character actor showcase No Small Parts celebrates the career of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 actress Pom Klementieff:

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Set Video of the Day:

Speaking of MCU movies, here’s a video from the set of Avengers: Infinity War featuring Chris Hemsworth being hilarious as usual:

Charitable Act of the Day:

And here’s another MCU star, Tom Holland, visiting sick kids at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles in costume as Spider-Man:

Classic Trailer of the Day:

Today is the 30th anniversary of the release of Harry and the Hendersons. Watch the original trailer for the classic Bigfoot comedy below.

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David Lewiston, a seminal producer of music from around the world has died. The force behind more than two dozen recordings for the Nonesuch Explorer series, Lewiston died May 29 in Wailuku, Hawaii, at age 88, from what the Nonesuch label has described as an “extended illness”; his longtime friend and colleague, Brian Cullman, told the New York Times that his death resulted from “complications of a series of strokes.”

Cullman wrote about Lewiston’s treks in a remembrance for Nonesuch:

“Sometimes by bus; sometimes by jeep or truck or caravanserai; sometimes by donkey, though not if he could help it; and almost always on foot, it always came to that, by foot across rickety bridges and footpaths, up the sides of mountains, through valleys and hills rife with goats and wayward sheep, over rocks and fences, across streams and rivers swollen by rain or dry from drought, carrying a small—but not that small—portable tape recorder; twenty or thirty reels of 1/4″ tape; a couple of microphones; cables; a week’s supply of batteries; a few packs of Fortnum & Mason tea, and a few spare shirts.”

Born in London in 1929, Lewiston studied composition at Trinity College of Music, and went on to study with the Russian composer Thomas de Hartmann — who was in turn a student of composer, mystic and author George Ivanovich Gurdjieff. De Hartmann got Lewiston interested in the music of Central Asia — and an obsession was born. Lewiston’s first music-collecting trip was in 1966, when he visited the islands of Java and Bali; recordings from that voyage became the iconic album Music From The Morning Of The World: Gamelan And Ketjak. As Lewiston later noted, he was very much a neophyte producer at that time, chalking up early shortcomings to ineptitude rather than intentional omission: “Since I was inexperienced,” he wrote in 2002, “I failed to list the musical groups when this album was first released.”

Music From The Morning Of The World became the first of 28 albums which Lewiston produced for the Nonesuch label’s Explorer series, working with the imprint’s famed director, Teresa (“Tracey”) Sterne. Their albums were not meant as records for specific ethnic audiences (which labels like Columbia and RCA had already been churning out since well before World War II), or for academics; rather, they were squarely aimed at a general audience with adventurous musical tastes. In an often-repeated anecdote that Lewiston attributed to Sterne, late at night on New York radio station WBAI, the DJ would say “OK, light that joint, here it comes!” and then play the second side of Golden Rain, a 1969 Lewiston album of Balinese music.

Over the ensuing decades, Lewiston’s ear took him all over the globe, capturing a scope of music that may seem unimaginably broad today. He made recordings across Asia including in Iran, Georgia, Tibet, Korea, China, Indonesia, India, Pakistan and Japan; throughout Central and South America in Mexico, Guatemala, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil; and in Morocco.

Lewiston was always quick to separate what he did from the work of traditional ethnomusicologists, as he told writer Christina Roden in an interview for the world music magazine RootsWorld in 2000. “I prefer to be described as a ‘musical tourist,’ if a description is absolutely necessary,” he said.

It’s not that Lewiston objected to the label of “ethnomusicologist” due to concerns about bias or colonialistic thinking. Rather, as he told Roden,

“Tracey [Sterne] and I thought that most ethnomusicologists were pretty dim. We called them ‘ethnoids.’ I think of an ethnomusicologist as someone who takes wonderful music and analyzes it until all the joy has been lost. It’s as though a rather boring person who wanted to be paid for talking about music invented a teutonic-sounding, pseudo-academic title as a scam – and got away with it! Much better to just shut up and enjoy the music. I have a really hard time when I’m writing liner notes, because I feel that if a person is reading them, he isn’t enjoying the music.”

As a white visitor to these cultures, Lewiston certainly prioritized what he, and he alone, judged as the “authentic” music of a given place, rather than what the musicians themselves might want to share with foreign audiences. As he told Roden in 2000,”When I go to the Himalayas, which is an annual jaunt for me, I have to be very careful to remind the musicians: ‘Please! No film music from Bombay!'”

At the same time, Lewiston documented important traditions — and sketched out crosscurrents that might otherwise have been missed, or at least undervalued. As writer Chris Nickson has pointed out in a review of Lewiston’s South America: Black Music In Praise Of Oxala And Other Gods:

“The whole concept of strong African culture remaining among the descendants of slaves has become common currency these days, but in 1968 no one had done research into the phenomenon, making this quite groundbreaking in the way it connected the dots between continents. The scholarly work might have gone beyond this, but the music remains as vital as ever, as does its importance.”

For those interested in music whose wellspring lay somewhere besides Europe, Lewiston’s work was — and remains — an aural primer. In 2006, composer Osvaldo Golijov poetically wrote:

“David Lewiston’s recordings are among the great testimonies in sound of our time. Anyone who hears them will be struck by the mysterious yearnings, the transcendental manifestations of joy, and the fragility and impermanence that unite wildly diverse cultures in our planet: ultimately, they give us a sense of how much and how little we humans are as a species. These records continue to inspire me as much as those by Stravinsky, Miles Davis and any of the other masters of the past century. They are a treasure: life as it is truly lived and dreamed.”

One of the most mesmerizing and mysteriously beautiful recordings Lewiston made in Chiapas, Mexico, became a sample in Golijov’s own music: his 2002 pieceK’In Sventa Ch’Ul Me’Tik Kwadalupe [Festival For The Holy Mother of Guadalupe].

After Sterne was fired from Nonesuch in 1979, the label’s interest in the Explorer series dried up, and Lewiston went on to produce recordings for the Ellipsis Arts, Shanachie and Bridge labels, as well working with the BBC Sound Archives.

In the last three-plus decades of his life, Lewiston became more devoted to focusing his efforts on conserving the music and ritual traditions of Tibetan Buddhism, particularly among the communities living in exile in India. (Brian Cullman told the New York Times that Lewiston’s archive contains almost 400 hours of recorded material, with much of it dedicated to Tibetan music, and that he is currently working with the label Dust-to-Digital to make a boxed set available.)

Despite that devotion to Tibetan music, Lewiston also made return trips to Bali in 1987 and 1994, spending a total of eight months collecting more music; in the late 1990s, he also went to Morocco to record music of the Sufi Muslim brotherhoods in the city of Fes, and to the Caucasus to record the region’s polyphonic singing traditions. As ever, Lewiston just couldn’t be tied down to a particular place.

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Need a quick recap on the past week in movie news? Here are the highlights:

BIG NEWS

Godzilla vs. Kong Welcomes a Guest Director: Both 2014’s Godzilla and this year’s Kong: Skull Island were helmed by directors who’d previously been known for small indie films. Now their crossover, Godzilla vs. Kong, due in 2020, is going a similar route with Adam Wingard, who made last year’s Blair Witch but is best known for lower-scale films like The Guest. Read more here.

GREAT NEWS

Hailee Steinfeld Joins the Transformers Franchise: Oscar-nominated actress Hailee Steinfeld is in talks to star in the upcoming Transformers spin-off Bumblebee, making her the first woman protagonist of the franchise previously led by Shia LaBeouf and Mark Wahlberg. Read more here.

SUPERHERO MOVIE CASTING

Charlie Heaton and Henry Zaga Join the X-Universe: Two more young rising stars, both of them Netflix series veterans, have joined the ensemble cast of New Mutants, the X-Men spin-off about a group of teenage heroes. Charlie Heaton (Stranger Things) was cast as Cannonball and Henry Zaga (13 Reasons Why) will be Sunspot. Read more here.

COOL CULTURE

Wonder Woman History: In anticipation of the release of Wonder Woman, the first theatrical movie starring DC’s iconic superheroine, many videomakers have been recapping the character’s history and other trivia. Watch her evolution in TV and movies below and see more here, here and here.

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EXCLUSIVE SCOOP

Patty Jenkins on the Most Important Scene in Wonder Woman: We talked to Patty Jenkins, director of Wonder Woman, about what’s sure to be the movie’s most iconic scene and how it took some convincing for why it was so essential. Read more here.

MUST-WATCH TRAILERS

Murder on the Orient Express Promises an Amazing Ride: The first spot for the latest adaptation of Agatha Christie’s locomotive mystery showcases its star-studded cast and their roles. We’re all aboard for this one, are you? Watch it here:

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Logan Lucky Looks Like a Comedy Jackpot: We are very fortunate that Steven Soderbergh is not retired, because his new movie looks like a hoot and a half. The heist comedy stars Channing Tatum, Daniel Craig, Adam Driver, Hilary Swank and more favorites, and it’s sure to be a runaway hit. Watch the first trailer below.

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The Mountain Between Us is Intense: Idris Elba and Kate Winslet are a pair we’ll be rooting for in the latest thrilling survival movie, about strangers stranded in the mountains after a plane crash. Check out the intense first trailer:

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Here are a bunch of little bites to satisfy your hunger for movie culture:

Reworked Trailer of the Day:

ScreenCrush redid the opening of the 1970s Wonder Woman TV show with footage from the new movie:

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Character History of the Day:

Speaking of Wonder Woman in TV and movies, here’s Burger Fiction with an evolution of the character on screen:

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Movie Science of the Day:

Also speaking of Wonder Woman, this week Kyle Hill explains why the superhero’s sword is the most powerful in the universe:

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Movie Trivia of the Day:

With Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins citing Superman as a major influeince, here’s ScreenCrush with a bunch of trivia about the 1978 superhero movie classic:

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Vintage Image of the Day:

Morgan Freeman, who turns 80 today, receives direction from Steven Spielberg on the set of Amistad in 1997:

Filmmaker in Focus:

If you’re not already familiar with the great Aki Kaurismaki, let Channel Criswell’s new video essay turn you into a fan:

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Actor in the Spotlight:

Speaking of underrated talents, Fandor celebrates rising star Riz Ahmed in this short video profile:

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Video List of the Day:

IMDb showcases the nine greatest Pixar scene stealers, including Rex from Toy Story and Edna from The Incredibles:

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Cosplay of the Day:

Speaking of great minor movie characters, here’s some Miss Argentina cosplay from Beetlejuice. See more photos at Fashionably Geek.

Classic Trailer of the Day:

Today is the 10th anniversary of Judd Apatow’s Knocked Up. Watch the original trailer for the classic comedy below.

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Here are a bunch of little bites to satisfy your hunger for movie culture:

Dream Movie of the Day:

One day, if we’re lucky, we’ll get a Hulk vs. Wolverine movie and it might look something like Alex Luthor imagines here:

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Reworked Movie Scene of the Day:

Darren Wallace reimagines a meeting from Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice with a drunk Man of Steel:

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Movie Trivia of the Day:

In honor of the release of Wonder Woman this weekend, here’s more trivia about the movie, this time from CineFix:

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Custom Made Prop Replica of the Day:

Also in honor of Wonder Woman, for AWE Me, the guys at Baltimore Knife and Sword show how to make a steel replica of the superhero’s shield:

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Vintage Image of the Day:

Clint Eastwood, who turns 87 today, with director Don Siegel and others on the set of The Beguiled in 1970:

Filmmaker in Focus:

Kaptain Kristian looks at the invisible details, achieved through CG effects, in the movies of David Fincher in his latest video essay:

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Special Effects Showcase of the Day:

For CineFix, Art of the Scene looks at the work of Phil Tippett for the T-rex attack from Jurassic Park:

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Movie Takedown of the Day:

Red Letter Media hilariously asks questions unanswered by Alien: Covenant in this goofy video:

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Supercut of the Day:

100 movie characters count down from 100 in this video that’s 100 seconds long (via Geek Tyrant):

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Classic Trailer of the Day:

Today is the 15th anniversary of the release of The Sum of All Fears. Watch the original trailer for the Tom Clancy adaptation below.

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Let’s block ads! (Why?)

Here are a bunch of little bites to satisfy your hunger for movie culture.

Movie Trivia of the Day:

In anticipation of the release of Wonder Woman this week, here’s ScreenCrush with a bunch of trivia about the new superhero movie:

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Cosplay of the Day:

We’re going to be seeing a lot of Wonder Woman cosplay this week and beyond, but none will be as adorable as this meeting between one cosplayer and the miniature version (via Fashionably Geek):

#WonderWoman mini-me @MegaConvention#MegaCon2017pic.twitter.com/Qtt9ResRwE

— DisneyLifestylers (@DLifestylers) May 27, 2017

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Custom Prop of the Day:

For AWE Me, the blacksmiths at Baltimore Knife and Sword show how to forge a replica of Wonder Woman’s God Killer sword:

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?Movie Recap of the Day:

The last time (and first time) we saw the new Wonder Woman on the big screen was in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice so to remind us what happened in that here’s a Recap Rap:

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Movie Takedown of the Day:

In honor of the positive reviews of Wonder Woman, here’s a deservedly brutal Honest Trailer for the last female-led DC Comics movie, Catwoman:

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Vintage Image of the Day:

Howard Hawks, who was born on this day in 1896, with stars Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell on the set of His Girl Friday in 1939:

Actor in the Spotlight:

With Baywatch now in theaters, the character actor showcase No Small Parts profiles the career of Alexandra Daddario:

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Movie Score Cover of the Day:

With Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales now in theaters, here’s an a capella performance of the franchise’s theme:

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Reworked Movie of the Day:

With Alien: Covenant in theaters, here’s a reworking of the original Alien so it’s a comedy about a cat from outer space:

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Classic Trailer of the Day;

This week is the 60th anniversary of the release of Elia Kazan’s A Face in the Crowd. Watch the original trailer for the classic film below.

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Here’s your estimated 3-day box office returns (new releases bolded):

1. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales – $77.0 million ($77.0 million total)

2. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 – $25.1 million ($338.4 million total)

3. Baywatch – $23.0 million ($23.0 million total)

4. Alien: Covenant – $13.1 million ($59.9 million total)

5. Everything Everything – $7.3 million ($22.7 million total)

6. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul – $5.8 million ($14.9 million total)

7. Snatched – $4.8 million ($41.1 million total)

8. King Arthur: Legend of the Sword – $4.1 million ($34.8 million total)

9.The Boss Baby – $2.3 million ($169.5 million total)

10.Beauty and the Beast – $1.9 million ($500.9 million total)

The Big Stories

Memorial Day weekend used to be one of the biggest friends to Hollywood. Kids are getting out plus an extra day off for adults. The summer box office used to kick off here. Over the last two years though it has been one of the few thorns in the side of current box office juggernaut, Walt Disney. Last year, Alice Through the Looking Glass bombed over this weekend and the year before Brad Bird’s anticipated, if mysterious, Tomorrowland, failed to connect with audiences. Since the diminishing returns on the reportedly “final adventure” of the Pirates of the Caribbean will likely be saved in international waters, it may turn out to be Paramount that will be hating on this holiday that was supposed to help save them from a year full of flops.

Yo Ho Yo Ho Four Billion Bucks For Thee

The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise reached four billion dollars across the globe thanks to a $285 million weekend. The second and fourth films made a cool billion each and the expectations that number five should be in store for at least $750 million worldwide are well founded. Once again, though, that total will be with little thanks to the overall ticket sales in North America. Charting the path of the sequels after the breakout success of The Curse of the Black Pearl, we saw Dead Man’s Chest jump to a $135.6 million opening weekend; the highest July opening at the time (and still fourth all-time.) At World’s End dropped to a $114.7 million opening (and was also nearly three hours long.) When Jerry Bruckheimer and Disney decided to expand the trilogy into further adventures for Jack Sparrow, Rob Marshall’s On Stranger Tides still managed a $90.1 million start. Those were all over three-day weekends.

Dead Men Tell No Tales only managed a $77 million start. Still, that just misses the top ten all-time Memorial Day weekend openings. (At World’s End is still #1 with $139.8 million.) What should give Disney a bit of pause over that start is that last year’s X-Men: Apocalypse rests in the ten slot (after a $79.8 million holiday) and only managed to come away with $155 million domestically. What should give them hope is that even that best-forgotten entry managed to break into the black thanks to its international earnings.

The budget on Pirates 5 is a bit higher ($230 million vs. $178 million) which means it is going to need close to the vicinity of $700 million just to break even. As mentioned earlier this does not appear to be an issue. On Stranger Tides grossed over $800 million internationally alone. The multiples for the last two Pirates films are a respectable 2.69 and 2.67 (for huge openers like those) and if that’s the case it is headed for about $180 million domestic. Seeing as how the international numbers have jumped up with every film, it seems unlikely it will fall below the $642 million earned overseas by Dead Man’s Chest. So far it has grossed an additional $208 million and should ease Disney’s holiday headache.

Paramount Afraid To Step Into the Light

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Wouldn’t you if you had an 18-month stretch like Paramount has had? Oscar nominations for Arrival and Fences aside, this is a box office column and nobody has been having as tough a go of it as the Mountain has. Focusing just on 2017 at the moment, they should at least be saved the embarrassment of xXx: The Return of Xander Cage being included amongst their flops. Sure the $44.8 million domestic doesn’t look good, but add $301 million overseas and you have a hit. In fact, it is their biggest estimated success since 2015’s Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation; bigger than Daddy’s Home, 10 Cloverfield Lane and Arrival. The success of those last three combined, though, couldn’t cover the losses of either Star Trek Beyond or Ben-Hur and not even close to the disasters of Monster Trucks and Ghost in the Shell.

That is where Baywatch was supposed to come in.

With a minimalist $69 million budget and the growing star power of Dwayne Johnson, this is a film that should have come close to doubling that budget at home and then get the remainder of its costs covered overseas. If it was any good. Don’t take my word for it though. 19% at Rotten Tomatoes makes it one of the worst-reviewed films of the year and so far the worst of the summer season. This didn’t sit well with Mr. Johnson, who took to Twitter to denounce the “glaring disconnect” between fans and critics who “showed up with their knives ready.” Funny, but that didn’t seem to be the case with the Jump Street fims, which got scores of 85% & 84%. Critics don’t mind television adaptations when they are good and funny. They do when they are not (see: CHiPs – 16%.) Johnson even touted the “B+” Cinemascore the film received, so let’s test the significance of that.

Taking out films such as The Other Guys and Be Cool, how has the Dwayne Johnson resume fared with audiences given the Cinemascore survey.

“A” (The Fate of the Furious, Moana, Furious 7, Fast & Furious 6, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, Fast Five, The Game Plan, Gridiron Gang)

“A-“ (Central Intelligence, San Andreas, Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, Tooth Fairy, The Rundown)

“B+” (Hercules, Race to Witch Mountain, Get Smart, Walking Tall)

“B” (Snitch, The Scorpion King)

“B-“ (Doom)

“C+” (Pain & Gain, Faster)

That is 13 films with an “A-“ or higher and 9 films with a “B+” or below. So Rock, can we at least agree that even “fans” with a small inkling of critical opinion have placed Baywatch in the bottom 41% of your resume? If you want a little more of that “glaring disconnect” between critics and fans, here is a sample of some of the films getting a “B+” combined with a Rotten Tomatoes score between 15-19%:

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Obsessed, Underworld: Blood Wars, Thunderbirds, Firewall, The Huntsman: Winter’s War, Monster-in-Law, The Wedding Planner, XXX: State of the Union, Underworld: Evolution, The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause, Garfield: The Movie, A Good Day to Die Hard, White Chicks

Welcome to the club, Baywatch. But I did mention this was a box office column, right? Plus how long can we really stay mad at Mr. Johnson? He’s in a terrible movie. We move on to his Presidential bid with Tom Hanks in 2020. Paramount, on the other hand, only have one other film this summer and that is Transformers: The Last Knight. That is likely to follow a similar path wih Pirates 5, so a little money will be coming back to the studio, but likely not with Baywatch. Films with a “B+” since 2001 to open between $18-19 million (based on the 3-day numbers) have an average multiple of 3.59. Take out highest and lowest scores and it’s still 3.09. That can still put Baywatch between $66-70 million; more Hercules than Central Intelligence. Can it find roughly another $135 million overseas? (It’s up to just $873,000 so far.) Gonna depend heavily on those fans listening to other fans who may just not be fans of this one.

Tales of the Top Ten

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 shows no signs of letting that top summer slot go. As I said weeks ago, no film is going to top it this summer. Not only has it surpassed the original’s gross and jumped over last week’s winner, Alien: Covenant, as expected, but in its fourth weekend also bested Baywatch. Admittedly with a little help from the Monday holiday. Last week I said it needed over a $23 million four-day weekend to maintain it’s $400+ million pace and it made $25 million. Whether it can make $34 million over the next two weekends will further determine its pace, but with it approaching $800 million worldwide, a billion dollars is going to come sooner than later. In related Disney news, Beauty and the Beast crossed the $500 million mark at the domestic box office this weekend

Last week’s marginal victor, Alien: Covenant, showed just how marginal it was in weekend two. Dropping nearly 71% over the weekend – even boosted by a holiday – means it is falling faster than even Prometheus (which dropped 59.4%.) $100 million in the U.S. is already off the table and now one has to wonder if it can even pass the 1979 & 1986 grosses of, arguably, the only good films in this franchise with $80 & $85 million. Covenant still has roughly $130 million to go before breaking even. Between that, Snatched and Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul, this is not how Fox wanted to begin its summer after the dual successes of Logan and The Boss Baby; the latter of which just had a sequel greenlit. It will be up to Captain Underpants next week and the warring Apes in July to help even out the season for the studio.

The good news for Warner Bros. is that Everything, Everything is looking like a winner for them. A nice hold gives the film over $25 million and on just a $10 million budget it looks headed for a minor victory. The bad news is that they are still reminded at just what a failure King Arthur: Legend of the Sword is. If you add up the profits this year for The Lego Batman Movie, Kong: Skull Island and, yes, even Zach Braff’s Going in Style that only covers roughly 21% of the losses on King Arthur. Add in the profits from last year’s Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and there is still roughly 11% of the loss unaccounted for. And that doesn’t even include losses on Fist Fight, CHiPs, and Unforgettable. If ever they needed some good press and even better word-of-mouth for Wonder Woman next week, it’s now. No wonder they moved up the embargo.

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– Erik Childress can be heard each week evaluating box office on WGN Radio with Nick Digilio as well as on Business First AM with Angela Miles and his Movie Madness Podcast.

[box office figures via Box Office Mojo]

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Here are a bunch of little bites to satisfy your hunger for movie culture:

Sequel of the Day:

If you missed the for-charity Love Actually sequel during the Red Nose Day Special last night, here is the star-studded short in full, with the American-exclusive Laura Linney and Patrick Dempsey scenes:

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Fan Theory of the Day:

Based on a clue in the Deadpool 2 teaser in front of Logan, MatPat of The Film Theorists makes the case that Deadpool’s true identity is a certain legendary American novelist:

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Reworked Trailer of the Day:

Did you expect Get Out to be a funnier movie than it is? Well, here’s a recut trailer making it look like a broad Meet the Parents type comedy (via Geek Tyrant):

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Mashup of the Day:

Watch artist Jon Payne sculpt a bust of Marvel’s the Hulk mashed with Star Wars villain Darth Maul:

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Vintage Image of the Day:

John Wayne, who was born on this day 110 years ago, calls his own shots as director (his official debut) while in costume as the star on the set of The Alamo in 1959:

Filmmaker in Focus:

Want to know how to draw a Studio Ghibli movie? Watch this Little White Lies video profiling The Red Turtle director Michael Dudok de Wit:

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Movie Food of the Day:

With Alien: Covenant now in theaters, Nerdy Nummies shows us how to make cake balls to look like the Alien Xenomorph eggs:

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Cosplay of the Day:

Some of the photos of cosplayer Anastasia Komori as Ramona Flowers from Scott Pilgrim vs. the World look so much like Mary Elizabeth Winstead in the role you’ll be looking twice. See more at Fashionably Geek.

Ramooo-oona~?? #scott #scottpilgrim #scottpilgrimvstheworld #ramonacosplay #ramonaflowers #ramonaflowerscosplay #ramona #scottpilgrimcosplay #cosplay #geek #geekgirl #cosplayer #cosplaygirl #comics #comicscosplay #instacosplay

A post shared by Anastasia (@anastasia.komori) on May 19, 2017 at 11:28am PDT

Movie Trivia of the Day:

Today is the 35th anniversary of the Cannes premiere of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, so here’s ScreenCrush with a bunch of trivia about the movie:

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Classic Trailer of the Day:

Yesterday was the 10th anniversary of the release of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End. Watch the original trailer for the hit sequel below.

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