Bane

Paramount ’s Star Trek Beyond began charting on the tracking boards yesterday with various sources putting the threequel’s opening range between $48M-$60M when it debuts on July 22. While that’s not a July record by any means, Star Trek Beyond is bound to be one of the more notable openings out of the 12 live-action wide entries on this month’s schedule, potentially besting Ghostbusters ‘ three-day when that Paul Feig title hits marquees on July 16. It’s just another indicator of the uphill battle that many franchise properties are facing in a summer B.O. atmosphere where family ‘five-quad’ movies remain king, and sequelitis is a bane. Many insiders predict that Finding Dory will hand off the No. 1 baton to Universal/Illumination Entertainment’s The Secret Life of Pets next weekend. The sixth title from Illumination is currently vying for an $80M-plus three-day at an estimated 4,100 theaters; and that’s as big as it gets for July 2016 opening … [Read more...] about ‘Star Trek Beyond’ Could Hit $60M Opening, According To Some Early Projections

SPOILER ALERT: This article contains details of tonight’s Veep series finale. Plus this article contains language inappropriate for almost anyone, but that’s Veep, isn’t it? Game of Thrones doesn’t end until next week, but tonight’s series finale of Veep showed a very different way to snare another type of Iron Throne with maybe even more bane and acerbity on the floor. In the past few weeks, there’s been a plethora of declarations of a “satisfying” ending by series regular Reid Scott and others on the Julia Louis-Dreyfus -led scathing HBO political satire. But there is no way that you saw the well played concluding twist, which is a welcome mat on the way out to the “mind fuck” to quote party chairman Roger Furlong (Dan Bakkedahl), that the frequently verbally and otherwise bawdy Armando Iannucci -created and David Mandel -showrun comedy excelled in. Coming off a damnable comeback campaign that dominated this final season, the end of Veep … [Read more...] about ‘Veep’ Series Finale Proves Every Vote & Profane Zinger Counts On Emmy Winner’s Exit