Guilty pleasures
By NewsPress Now
‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ is No. 1 again; ‘Am I Racist’ cracks top 5
Moviegoers said yes to more “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” this weekend.
After its monster opening, the Tim Burton sequel easily topped the domestic box office charts again with $51.6 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday. Down only 54% from a week earlier, the North American gross for the Warner Bros. release is already at $188 million. Internationally, it added $28.7 million, bringing its worldwide total to a staggering $264.3 million.
“To drop just 54% is really impressive and indicative of a pretty solid word of mouth,” said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for Comscore. “Audiences are enjoying the film.”
While its hold was strong, “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” didn’t have much in the way of major new competition. Fresh offerings included the James McAvoy horror “Speak No Evil,” a satirical documentary following right wing podcaster Matt Walsh; and a new Dave Bautista action pic, “The Killer’s Game.”
Second place in weekend ticket sales went to “Speak No Evil,” a remake of a 2022 Danish horror film about an unsuspecting family who decides to spend a weekend with new friends in the country. McAvoy stars in it, along with Mackenzie Davis and Scoot McNairy. With positive reviews and a shrewd release date of Friday the 13th, the Blumhouse production released by Universal Pictures made an estimated $11.5 million from 3,375 locations.
“Deadpool & Wolverine” landed in third place in its eighth weekend with another $5.2 million. The Disney and Marvel blockbuster is now up to $621.5 million in North America and $1.3 billion globally.
The Daily Wire movie “Am I Racist?” placed fourth at the box office, with an estimated $4.7 million from only 1,517 theaters. Described as a mockumentary in the style of “Borat,” the movie has conservative columnist Walsh going undercover as a “DEI trainee.” Walsh had a similar gimmick, pretending to be a gender studies professor, in the 2022 movie “What is a Woman?” Both were directed by Justin Folk.
“Am I Racist?” cost a reported $3 million to make. To release it, the Daily Wire — the Ben Shapiro co-founded company — partnered with SDG Releasing, a distribution company founded by “God’s Not Dead” writers Cary Solomon and Chuck Konzelman, who promise the “lowest fees in the business.” Among the trailers playing before “Am I Racist?” is another film targeting conservative audiences: The upcoming Dinesh D’Souza movie “Vindicating Trump.”
Rounding out the top five was “ Reagan,” the Showbiz Direct release starring Dennis Quaid as the former president, which added another $3 million in its third weekend, bringing its total domestic total to $23.3 million.
“The Killer’s Game,” meanwhile, debuted in sixth place with $2.6 million. Bautista stars as a hit man with a terminal illness in the action comedy, which got dismal reviews. The faith-based “God’s Not Dead: In God We Trust” also managed to snag a top 10 spot with its $1.5 million launch.
In limited release, Amazon MGM Studios began its rollout of the Sundance breakout “ My Old Ass,” starring Maisy Stella, in seven theaters in New York, Los Angeles and Austin, where it made a combined $171,242. The coming of age movie expands nationwide on Sept. 27.
Next weekend, theaters will get the Optimus Prime origin pic “Transformers One,” but it may be a quiet few weeks at the box office until “ Joker: Folie à Deux “ dances its way onto the big screen on Oct. 4.
‘The Life of Chuck’ wins the Toronto Film Festival’s People’s Choice Award
The Toronto International Film Festival’s People’s Choice Award went to “The Life of Chuck,” handing Mike Flanagan’s Stephen King adaptation one of the most-watched prizes of the fall film festival circuit.
The award for “The Life of Chuck” was announced Sunday as North American’s largest film festival drew to a close. “The Life of Chuck,” based on King’s 2020 novella of the same name, stars Tom Hiddleston as Charles “Chuck” Krantz, an ordinary man living through apocalyptic cataclysms. Mark Hamill, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Karen Gillan and Jacob Tremblay co-star.
TIFF’s People’s Choice Award is regarded as a reliable Oscar harbinger. Since 2012, every winner of the festival’s top prize has gone on to be nominated for best picture at the Academy Awards. Last year, Cord Jefferson’s “American Fiction” won, and went on to be a major awards contender.
But “The Life of Chuck” could test that track record. The film is up for sale and doesn’t yet have distribution. It could be acquired and quickly readied for release this fall, or it might end up a 2025 release. “The Life of Chuck” drew mixed — though mostly positive reviews — out of Toronto, though audiences were clearly charmed by the uplifting drama.
Runners-up for the People’s Choice Award, which is voted on by festival attendees, were both films that first premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May. The first was Jacques Audiard’s “Emilia Pérez.” The second runner-up was Sean Baker’s “Anora,” the Palme d’Or winner at Cannes.
The audience award for top documentary went to Mike Downie’s “The Tragically Hip: No Dress Rehearsal.” In the festival’s Midnight Madness section, the prize went to Coralie Fargeat’s “The Substance,” starring Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley.
Wife of Jane’s Addiction frontman says tension led to onstage scuffle
BOSTON | A scuffle between members of the groundbreaking alternative rock band Jane’s Addiction came amid “tension and animosity” during their reunion tour, lead singer Perry Farrell’s wife said Saturday.
The band is known for edgy, punk-inspired hits “Been Caught Stealing” and “Mountain Song” in the late 1980s and early 1990s as the alternative rock and grunge music movements were growing.
In videos post on social media from Friday night’s concert in Boston, Farrell, 65, is seen singing loudly into his mic and then lunging at guitarist Dave Navarro, bumping Navarro with his shoulder before taking a swing at Navarro with his right arm. Navarro is seen holding his right arm out to keep Farrell away before Farrell is dragged away by others on stage. The show ended shortly after.
“Perry’s frustration had been mounting, night after night, he felt that the stage volume had been extremely loud and his voice was being drowned out by the band,” Etty Lau Farrell wrote in an Instagram post Saturday morning.
She said her husband had been suffering from tinnitus and a sore throat and “by the end of the song, he wasn’t singing, he was screaming just to be heard.” She said her husband later broke down “and cried and cried.”
The band’s “Imminent Redemption” tour started in early August and has 15 dates left, including a show in Connecticut on Sunday night.
The band has not yet made a statement about the future of the tour.
—From AP reports
