Month: April 2021

It has been 386 days since the last time that the weekend box office scored $50 million in total for every movie over the entire weekend, but it looks like the COVID-19 pandemic streak is finally over. Things are still far from normal, obviously — there are still hundreds of movie theaters that have not reopened and the studios are still putting the pieces together — but this weekend proved once and for all that audiences are still very interested in returning to theaters.

Godzilla vs. Kong (from director Adam Wingard) is poised to earn a whopping $48.6 million over the last 5 days, and well over $33 million over the three-day weekend. That is a remarkable number for a few reasons. First of all, it’s the biggest opening weekend (five-day or three-day) since Onward earned $39 million on the weekend of March 6th, 2020. This is doubly exceptional for a couple more reasons, namely that its predecessor, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, only earned only $47 million in its opening weekend in 2019, and that was before the pandemic. Moreover, $48 million worth of moviegoers showed up to watch Godzilla vs. Kong in theaters, despite the fact that it was also playing for free to HBO Max subscribers.

Moviegoers are clearly ready to return to theaters (even as the pandemic threatens a fourth surge), and Godzilla vs. Kong provided one of the first great excuses to do so since Tenet faltered last fall. It didn’t matter that it had been delayed a year, or that it was available to watch on our television screens and mobile devices, moviegoers wanted to see an old-fashioned blockbuster the way it was meant to be seen: On the big screen.

It didn’t hurt, either, that Adam Wingard’s movie was well received by critics (76 percent on Rotten Tomatoes), and audiences were clearly overjoyed to see a movie of this ilk in theaters, too, because they gave it a 94 percent audience score on Rotten Tomatoes and an A Cinemascore (and an A+ among those under the age of 18). Despite the pandemic, theaters probably also racked up their biggest concession sales in over a year because Godzilla vs. Kong is the kind of movie that almost requires popcorn, despite the fact that most people are still wearing masks in public.

Obviously, $48 million is short of what the movie could have made outside of a pandemic, but the performance clearly meant a lot for the industry, as it gives them hope that people are eager to return to theaters, which is good for the studios, good for the theaters, good for actors and crew members, good for ticket-sales companies, and even good for those of us who write about the box office. I’m sure there was a huge breath of relief all over Tinseltown this weekend.

Godzilla vs. Kong — as it would have during normal times — also blew everything else out of competition. Bob Odenkirk’s well-received Nobody came in a very distant second place, earning around $2.8 million to bring its ten-day total to $11.5 million. That’s actually not so bad; the first John Wick movie only earned $43 million total outside the pandemic, and it had Keanu Reeves. At a cost of only $16 million (Odenkirk is clearly cheaper than Reeves), Nobody is poised for a profit, especially after it’s made available at home, which will happen soon enough. The film will be released digitally on April 16th.

In third place was another new release this weekend, Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s horror movie, The Unholy. With $2.75 million, it appears that it will come in just under Nobody. The Unholy has been saddled with bad reviews (33 percent on RT) and even the audience score is tepid (57 percent).

Fourth and fifth place belong to family films, both of which are also available to home viewers. Disney’s Raya and the Last Dragon, which can be rented for $30 on Disney+, eked out $2 million to bring its total to $32 million. Tom and Jerry, meanwhile, rounds out the top five with $1.2 million and $39 million total, despite also being available on HBO Max.

With moviegoers returning in droves to theaters this weekend, it’ll be interesting to see if it will inspire a continued wave of returnees next weekend, although Godzilla vs. Kong seems to have the box office mostly to itself at least until Mortal Kombat opens on April 23rd. Next weekend, however, could see some light action from Voyagers, a fairly compelling sci-fi film from director Neil Burger that stars Colin Farrell, Lily-Rose Depp, and Tye Sheridan. Unless studios decide to hurry back in the wake of Godzilla vs. Kong’s success, it will be next weekend’s only new wide opener.

Source: Deadline, Box Office Mojo

For much of its current season, Saturday Night Live has featured a politically-themed sketch in its cold open. In recent episodes, however, they’ve managed to do this using Chloe Fineman’s impression of Britney Spears. In its most recent episode, the NBC sketch comedy show brought back Oops, You Did It Again to “shine a light on the social pariahs of the week.”

The sketch started with Lil Nas X, whose “Satan Shoes” have riled up conservatives and caused Nike to step in and prevent the sales of the modified pairs. While Chris Redd doesn’t look very much like the rapper, he was absolutely down to twerk on a guy dressed up like “god” to even things out on the outrage scale.

Next up was Kate McKinnon dressed as a giant skunk, playing a “canceled” Pepe Le Pew. The sketch addresses some recent news that the Looney Toon was taken out of the new Space Jam, yet another example conservatives have given regarding cancel culture.

“Any good basketball film needs a horny skunk. My part was, I see a basketball in a blonde wig and I make love to it for 10-15 minutes before LeBron James says ‘Bro, that’s a basketball,’” Le Pew explained. “Not my finest moment, but the crew loved it.”

The star of the segment, however, was Pete Davidson playing suspected “sex pest” Matt Gaetz. Davidson, who had played New York governor Andrew Cuomo, another politician under fire, on the segment earlier in the year got to play a Family Guy-inspired Gaetz. Gaetz tries hard not to admit any wrongdoing, at one point comparing himself to Le Pew. Who wasn’t having any of it.

“No, I’m a cartoon skunk. You’re a United States congressman,” McKinnon said. “Be better.”

Gonzaga has built one of the great powerhouses in college basketball over the past two decades, but even as some of their stars have gone on to great success in the NBA, like Kelly Olynyk, Rui Hachimura, and Domantas Sabonis, no one is more synonymous with the Zags for fans of a certain age than Adam Morrison — although Hall of Famer John Stockton might be that guy for an older crowd.

Morrison brought Gonzaga back to the national stage in the early 2000s and while his NBA career didn’t pan out as hoped — he did pick up a couple rings on the Lakers — he will forever be remembered for his play at Gonzaga, with that iconic ‘stache and hair. One of the lasting images of Morrison is him seated on the floor in tears after the Zags lost a stunner to UCLA in the 2006 Sweet 16. That image was very popular on Twitter over the last week, as the Bulldogs were set to face the Bruins in the Final Four, and this time, they were the ones able to send UCLA to heartbreak city.

Jalen Suggs’ banked in heave at the buzzer will go down in NCAA Tournament lore, and it sent everyone into a frenzy. Jim Nantz and Bill Raftery delivered an all-time great call, while NBA stars went nuts on Twitter, but on the IMG Radio call for Gonzaga, none other than Morrison was on the mic, and fittingly he got to scream “YES! YES! YES!” seeing his beloved Zags exact some revenge 15 years later.

Morrison knows a thing or two about showing some “MAJOR ONIONS!” as Raftery called it, as he’s had some banked in heroics of his own, with Raft on the mic to deliver one of his most iconic calls.

It’s a really cool full circle moment for Morrison, a man who was critical in launching this Gonzaga run as the best mid-major in the country — and now just a full-on powerhouse — and you can hear how much this meant to him being in the building for some karmic justice.

One of the greatest college basketball games of all time took place on Saturday evening. After Baylor punched its ticket to the Final Four with a throttling of Houston, the assumption was that top-seeded Gonzaga would respond in kind by running 11th-seeded UCLA out of the gym. That didn’t happen — while the Bulldogs won, 93-90, it took overtime and a halfcourt buzzer-beater by Jalen Suggs to get the job done.

It was a game no one will ever forget, as the Bruins threw the kitchen sink at the Bulldogs and tried their best to upend their quest to end the season with the perfect record. UCLA’s gameplan, which was apparently “hit so many long twos that it seemed like it was designed to infuriate people who hate that shot,” almost worked to perfection, and it took a presumed top-3 pick in the 2021 NBA Draft doing something phenomenal to keep them from victory.

Unsurprisingly, the NBA universe was as enthralled with how the game played out as anyone. And when Suggs’ prayer was answered, players took to Twitter to celebrate a Final Four tilt that none of us will forget any time soon.

Gonzaga will try to captivate the basketball-watching world when it squares off with Baylor on Monday. The bar is awfully high, but perhaps those two teams will figure out a way to one-up the Bulldogs and the Bruins.

The best basketball game that these eyes have seen ended in the only way it possible could. The Gonzaga Bulldogs, now 40 minutes away from perfection, took haymaker after haymaker from the UCLA Bruins in an instant Final Four classic. We were mere seconds away from needing double overtime to determine a winner, but thanks to Jalen Suggs, the Bulldogs came out on top, 93-90.

The 11th-ranked Bruins gave Gonzaga every single thing it could handle, going down to the final seconds. After forcing a miss by Corey Kispert with 22 seconds left, UCLA walked it up and gave the ball to stud guard Johnny Juzang. While his initial attempt did not go in, Juzang relentlessly pursued his miss, securing the rebound and laying it in to tie things up at 90. With 3.3 seconds left, Suggs got the ball, pushed it up the court, and added his name to March Madness lore for the rest of time.

The game was a breathtaking back-and-forth between the Bulldogs, which have legitimate aspirations of going down as one of the greatest college basketball teams of all time, and the Bruins, which had their sights set on going from the First Four to the title game. Both teams gave the other their best shot, with every moment feeling like it had the potential to create a layer of separation that never came.

In overtime, it looked like the Zags were going to pull away behind Drew Timme being unguardable, along with Andrew Nembhard getting blessed with an “onions!” from Bill Raftery.

But UCLA, no matter what, had a response. After the Nembhard triple, Jaime Jaquez connected on a triple to make it a two-point game, which beget an ending no one will ever forget.

Suggs was terrific, scoring 16 points, doling out six assists, hauling in five rebounds, forcing a pair of steals, and blocking a shot. Timme was the leading scorer for the Zags, going for 25, while Joel Ayayi had 22 and six rebounds. For the Bruins, Juzang led all scorers with 29 and six rebounds, while Jaquez had 19 and Tyger Campbell had 17 and seven dimes.

With the win, the top-ranked Bulldogs will take on fellow 1-seed Baylor in a matchup of the two clear-cut best teams in all of college basketball.

Every now and then, the Miami Marlins have a young player somewhere in their franchise that generates a ton of buzz. Time will ultimately tell if Jazz Chisholm, the No. 4 prospect in their system who is currently with the big league club, turns that buzz into consistent production, but at the very least, one sequence on Saturday night was extremely fun.

Chisholm got on base to start the bottom of the fourth inning during the Marlins’ tilt against the Tampa Bay Rays. He then showed off his speed by stealing second in a way that I find extremely funny, then stealing third, then scoring on the kind of shallow sacrifice fly that a player should absolutely not be able to score on.

Stealing third is always going to be impressive, and scoring on that shallow of a sac fly — especially when the guy in right field has a solid arm, which Austin Meadows of the Rays does — is super hard. But stealing second against a lefty before they even start their throwing motion, thereby letting them see you take off and respond straight away, is quite impressive. Chisholm had a cup of coffee with the team last season and stole two bases in 21 games, and we have a gut feeling he’s going to steal a whole heck of a lot more than two this year.

Nicki Minaj has landed a number of records in her decade-plus-long career and while it’s been almost three years since she released an album, her last one being 2018’s Queen, the rapper is still finding ways to label herself as a one of a kind rapper.

More than six years after the music video’s release, Minaj’s The Pinkprint highlight, “Anaconda,” has reached a billion views on YouTube. The impressive feat makes her the first female rapper to reach the ten-digit number with a solo song on the platform.

With “Anaconda” surpassing a billion views, Minaj also ties Katy Perry and Rihanna for the most overall music videos with more than a billion views on YouTube, that being six. The other videos from the Pink Friday rapper’s catalog to accomplish this include “Bang. Bang” with Jessie J and Ariana Grande, “Hey Mama” with David Guetta, Bebe Rexha, and Afrojack, and “Swalla,” with Jason Derulo and Ty Dolla Sign.

While the news may be a reason to celebrate for the rapper, it comes a little over a year after she listed “Anaconda” as one of three songs she wished she never recorded. She said this during a Q&A session with entertainment executive Irving Azoff at Beverly Hills’ Pollstar Live Conference and added “Starships” and “Your Love” to the list. “I was like, ‘Why did I do this?’” she joked during the conversation.

Nearly two years after signing a deal with Quality Control Music, Arkansas rapper Bankroll Freddie announced a deal with Motown Records to start off the year. The news was shared with a lavish video for his “Add It Up” track.

Fast forward two months and the rapper returns with a full body of work, one that’s accompanied with another video, this time for “Pop It.” The Megan Thee Stallion-featured visual sees the two rappers surround by luxury cars, a large sum of money, and women who, along with Megan, twerk and dance for the majority of the visual.

Bankroll Freddie’s major-label debut, Big Bank, also comes with guest appearances from EST Gee, 2 Chainz, Gucci Mane, PnB Rock, Young Dolph, Young Scooter, and Big30. The album was released a little over a year after he dropped From Trap To Rap, his first project on Quality Control. As for Megan, the track is her first release since picking up three wins at last month’s Grammy Awards in categories that included Best New Artist and Best Rap Performance. She will also headline this fall’s Bonnarro Festival with Tame Impala, Lizzo, and more.

Watch the “Pop It” video above.

Big Bank is out now via Quality Control Music. Get it here.

Megan Thee Stallion is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Hip-hop fans from near and far have been on edge on Saturday following news of DMX’s drug overdose and hospitalization early in the morning. TMZ confirmed that the rapper suffered the overdose Friday night at his home. He was then taken to a White Plains, New York hospital where he was listed in “grave condition” at the facility’s critical care unit. It was also reported that he suffered a heart attack due to the overdose.

For much of the day, updates about his health were nonexistent until his lawyer, Murray Richman, spoke to New York’s Pix11 News where he delivered somewhat of a relieving update on the rapper’s condition.

“He’s in the hospital as a result of a heart attack,” Richman said during a zoom call with Pix11 News. “He has been taken off [the] life support system and he’s been breathing on his own.”

While this may be comforting news for the time being, Richman added that they are not in the clear with the rapper just yet.

“We are concerned,” he said. “It would be disingenuous of me to suggest that I’m not a worried man at this particular point.” During their broadcast, Pix11 News said that DMX’s lawyer would not confirmed whether or not the rapper’s hospitalization and heart attack was the result of a drug overdose.

Since hearing the news early Saturday morning, a number of people from the music world have sent their well wishes to the rapper in hopes of a speedy recovery.

You can hear Richman’s words in the video above.

Isaiah Thomas will make his return to the NBA as a member of the New Orleans Pelicans. Thomas, who has not appeared in the Association since his time with the Washington Wizards came to an end last February, joined New Orleans on a 10-day contract, and is eligible to suit up for the team starting on Sunday.

Thomas was officially announced by the team on Saturday afternoon, and in a fun twist, Thomas is going to wear a number that he hasn’t worn at any point during his NBA career.

Shortly after, Thomas took to his Twitter account and explained that this, unsurprisingly, is a way for him to pay tribute to Kobe Bryant.

Thomas has always been someone who made clear how much he admired Bryant. Following Bryant’s passing in a helicopter accident in early-2020, Thomas spoke at length at how much Bryant meant to him, both on and off the basketball court.

“He’s meant everything to me,” Thomas said. “I started basketball because of Kobe Bryant. So it’s like — I just had talked to him last week.”

…

“I mean, he’s the greatest of all time in life and in basketball. That’s how much I looked up to him,” Thomas said. “His legacy is going to live forever, but this [death] was a dent in everybody’s life that he’s touched, for sure.”

It’s unclear if Thomas will be part of the Pelicans rotation upon his eligibility to play, but with the team dealing with a few injuries right now, he could potentially add a scoring punch in the backcourt.