#BOXOFFICE: “SHANG-CHI” UNSTOPPABLE A FOURTH STRAIGHT WEEK

There’s just no stopping SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS which takes the top spot for a fourth straight week at the Box Office with $12.8 million from 3,952 theatres for Marvel/Disney! This means it has eclipsed BLACK WIDOW as the highest-grossing film during the Pandemic with a tally of $196 million. BLACK WIDOW had grossed $186.7 million domestically.

In second spot is DEAR EVAN HANSEN with a respectable $7.3 million from 3,364 theatres for Universal Pictures. Projections for the Musical were pegged at up to $12 million going into the weekend. The Film which premiered as Opening Night Gala at TIFF a couple weeks back, got 33% on the Tomatometer from Critics.

FREE GUY lands in third with $4.1 million from 3,175 theatres for 20th Century Studios, a total $114.1 million over seven weeks.

CANDYMAN is showing some resilience with $$2.4 million from 2,556 theatres for Universal Pictures, earning $56.9 million over six weeks.

CRY MACHO rounds things out in fifth spot with $2.1 million from 4,022 theatres, a total $8.4 million earned in two weeks for Warner Bros.

#BOXOFFICE: “SHANG-CHI” MAKES IT THREE IN A ROW

Marvel Studios’ SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS reigns again atop the Box Office this weekend with a $21.7 million from 4,070 theatres. Over three weeks it has grossed $176 million domestically, all the more impressive considering the times in which it has surfaced.

Second spot goes to FREE GUY with $5.2 million for 20th Century Studios. It has made $108 million over six weeks.

CRY MACHO, the latest from Clint Eastwood, opens in third with $4.5 million from 3,967 theatres for Warner Bros. It gets 51% on the Tomatometer.

CANDYMAN lands in fourth with $3.5 million for Universal Pictures, a total $53 million grossed in North America.

MALIGNANT rounds things out with $2.6 million for Warner Bros., a tally of $9.8 million over two weeks.

#BOXOFFICE: “SHANG-CHI” IS LEGENDARY IN DEBUT

Movies are back in a big way! The Pandemic could not stop Moviegoers form flocking to theatres this weekend to see Marvel’s SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS. The latest in the Marvel Cinematic Universe starring Toronto’s Simu Liu, debuts atop the Box Office with $67.8 million (potentially $85 million by end of day Monday) from 4,300 theatres across North America, a record for biggest three-day Labour Day weekend opening. Add to this, this is the first ever Asian-led Film to reach this success! Critics agree the Film is a blast with a 92% on the Tomatometer.

In second is last week’s #1 film, CANDYMAN, taking $10.4 million for an anticipated total domestic run of $41.7 million by the end of Labour Day weekend for Universal Pictures.

FREE GUY lands in third with $8.9 million from 3,885 theatres for 20th Century Studios, a cumulative $94.5 million over four weeks. Not bad at all!

Fourth spot goes to PAW PATROL: THE MOVIE with $4.1 million from 3,004 theatres, a three week run of $31.7 million.

Disney’s JUNGLE CRUISE, which just has been announced to have a Sequel rounds-out the Top Five with $3.7 million, a total $106.7 million over six weeks.

#BOXOFFICE: “CANDYMAN” TOO SWEET TO RESIST

CANDYMAN proves to sweet to resist to Moviegoers, taking top spot at the Box Office this weekend. The Sequel to the 1992 Horror brought-in a healthy $22.3 million for Universal Pictures, from 3,569 theatres. The second Feature by Nia DaCosta gets 85% on the Tomatometer.

In second spot is FREE GUY with $13.5 million from 3,940 theatres for 20th Century Studios. Over three weeks, the Action-Fantasy-Comedy starring Ryan Reynolds has brought in $79.3 million domestically in North America.

Landing in third is PAW PATROL: THE MOVIE with $6.6 million in its second week out for Paramount/Elevation Pictures. Thus far it has grossed $24 million.

Disney’s JUNGLE CRUISE is in fourth with $5 million in its fifth week out, just crossing $100 million.

DON’T BREATHE 2 rounds-out to the Top Five with $2.8 million for Sony Pictures, a total $24.6 million in three weeks.

#BOXOFFICE: “FREE GUY” RUNS AWAY IN OPENING

The best things in life are free! At the Box Office too! FREE GUY takes the top spot in its opening at the Box Office this weekend with a $26 million opening from 4,164 theatres for 20th Century Studios. The Fantasy-Action-Comedy starring Ryan Reynolds, gets a solid 82% on the Tomatometer.

In second spot is DON’T BREATHE 2 with $10.1 million for Sony Pictures. The Horror follows on the success of its Predecessor which in August 2016 opened at top spot. This Sequel gets 52% on the Tomatometer.

RESPECT debuts in third with $9 million from 3,207 theatres for Universal Pictures/MGM. The Aretha Franklin Biopic starring Jennifer Hudson gets 63% on the Tomatometer.

Disney’s JUNGLE CRUISE lands in fourth this weekend with $8.9 million from 3,900 theatres, a three week total of $88.1 million domestically.

THE SUICIDE SQUAD rounds-out the Top Five with $8.1 million from 4,019 theatres for Warner Bros., a two week run of $43.2 million.

#INTERVIEW: “FREE GUY”

By Mr. Will Wong

At long last, FREE GUY is set to arrive in theatres after multiple delays, but if you’ve heard the chatter, you’ll soon understand why this epic Comedy has been saved for our return to the theatres! Full of heart and surprises, the Film from Director Shawn Levy centers on a Bank Teller named Guy (Ryan Reynolds) who discovers he is actually a background player in an open-world video game, ultimately becoming the hero of his own story…out to save the world! 

We had the joy of sitting-in on the global Press Junket for this hilarious Blockbuster and in-attendance were a star-studded group:

Shawn Levy – Director
Ryan Reynolds – Guy
Jodie Comer – Millie/Molotov Girl
Joe Keery – Keys
Lil Rel Howery – Buddy
Taika Waititi – Antoine
Utkarsh Ambudkar – Mouser

Shawn Levy talks about the excitement of the world finally getting to see FREE GUY.

Levy: Well, it has been a ride and a longer wait than we expected but this Movie was such a delight to make. The making of it was pretty joyous and fun, we’re just really excited to get to share a movie that has that same fun and delight and warmth that was on-set. Hopefully it translated to the screen. In some of these early reactions it’s been really affirming and all coming through to audiences the way we hoped.

Ryan Reynolds talks about stepping into the world of a wholesome hero.

Reynolds: My default is just pure trash on the inside so this is slightly new for me. There’s a movie I like called ‘Being There‘ starring Peter Sellers and it was like the first foothold I hand into this world. There’s something really wonderful about playing a character who’s kinda naive and innocent. In a sense, he’s like a four-year-old adult. So there’s something kinda fun about exploring everything with new eyes, which is what this character gets to do, and filtering that through the prism of Comedy. I love playing a character who’s stepping out of the background and into this new person.

Jodie Comer does double duty as Molotov Girl and Millie and tells us about balancing this.

Comer: One thing which draw me to the role was the Team – working with the Creators of the Film and also the sheer imagination the Script has. I remember reading it and thinking ‘Omigosh, how is this gonna translate onto the screen?’. You have the real world mixed-in with the Video Game and I think it was just the scope of it and how much heart it had. You see that it’s written about as an Action-Comedy, but you see there’s so much more to that. It provokes so much emotion in you. I think it was the imagination the Script had for me.

Mariah Carey’s ‘Fantasy‘ plays a pivotal role in Free Guy and the question is asked about why this song in particular.

Levy: Ryan is a maestro of the odd, random but inspired song idea. He was obsessive about it early on as we were working on the Script. He said, ‘You know what I think should be the entire anthem of the Movie and marketing campaign?’. He suggested this song by Mariah and we know that by the Third Act of the Movie we have a cover of that song by our very own Jodie Comer!

Reynolds: In the earliest drafts we’d written The Outfield‘s ‘Your Love‘ and it ended-up not fitting right. It’s a great song but Mariah Carey‘s ‘Fantasy‘ just came in like a lightening bolt. It was like an engine through so much of the Movie. It’s really fantastic!

Reynolds and Howery talk about the central theme of friendship in the Film.

Howery: I like when I get to the end of it and that’s where the audience sees the last speech Buddy gives before this big thing happens. It is always weird when you do big speeches like this, you get emotionally tied to it. I remember shooting with Shawn and I had to go take a walk. I wasn’t gonna tear-up in front of him. Buddy has a couple of those moments which is what I love about the character, it’s that his innocence that came with how comfortable he was with his friendship. It is something really beautiful that happens towards the end that Buddy discovers with his best friend. It’s another conversation in the beginning Guy trying to convince him what the sunglasses was showing him. Buddy just stuck to his ways and we just saw the heart of him open and open which is why I live this character so much. People are really surprised how much heart it has. Yeah, you’re gonna tear-up!

Taika Waititi steals the show as villainous Antoine and talks about his character.

Waititi: I didn’t really know what to expect or what I was doing. We had one phone call (with Shawn) and I hadn’t really met you. Shawn described the character and that appealed to me. I just play visions of my mom in all my characters and so this was my little vision of my mom. I’ve actually met a lot of people like this in America and it’s what I think of Americans… at CAA parties.

Utkarsh Ambudkar and Joe Keery tell us about their characters’ catch phrases.

Keery: I think the best catch phrase is ‘catch-phrase’. I think that’s genius. I don’t feel my character really has a catch phrase.

Ambudkar: I don’t remember. Was it ‘Go Time? Yeah it’s Go Time, baby!’. That’s all me. I desperately tried getting Taika’s character on-board in this mentor/mentee-type relationship. Antoine is not having it at all. I think it makes for a funny chemistry between us. All of us got really lucky this whole Cast works really well together. Everyone makes each other look good. It’s rare you get this many people who get this energy going with each other so that’s awesome.

The Gaming industry is not unlike the Film industry in that they are male-dominated. Jodie Comer comments on the parallels in her character(s) and real life.

Comer: It was incredible and a huge part of what attracted me to the piece, especially having this girl Millie and Molotov being a creation of her. It was so important that it was always an essence of Millie but that Molotov was also very different so I really focused on the physicality. There is a lot of nuance within her world and even looking into how male-dominated that industry is, which is kinda similar to my own and those kind of fights we’re definitely up against, and the resilience in which that created in her. There was so much for me to play with. That was always really present and thought about from the moment I got the Script, the first draft to the moments we were on-set playing around, changing things. It was such a great experience bringing my own ideas to play.

Ryan Reynolds and Lil Rel Howery talk about the friendship they formed on and off-screen in FREE GUY.

Reynolds: Rel’s character and I live on this intersection a little bit on the page, a little bit on the moment. But I feel that’s the case of every single person on this webinar. Everybody here’s very good at creating and building and three-dimensionalizing their work. Rel and I immediately clicked. I was a huge fan of his. And we can all say he was a huge fan of Taika. It’s great to get out there, mess around and play and form that bond, and put it up on the big screen.

Howery: I mean for me it’s weird because Ryan Reynolds has been my friend in my head for a really long time. And to this day I don’t think he believes that I’m a legit fan. When he was winning everything with Deadpool I was calling people “I toldja! I toldja Ryan was a superstar!’. I don’t get nervous about meeting anyone but I was really nervous that first day. One of the fun things about this business is you get to work with people you really look up to, not just as an Actor but as a fan. I don’t know he’s gonna be my friend after this movie but we’re gonna enjoy the moment.

Levy and Reynolds tease the possibility of a Franchise for FREE GUY.

Reynolds: I hope we get to this again whether it’s in the form of a Sequel or something else. We’re lucky a couple people in here I’ve gotten to work with multiple times. If it’s not another FREE GUY movie or another movie in another form.

Levy: The short answer is ‘yes’. But I’ve made things that launched franchises and have made enough things to realize you just

I don’t know the outcome. We have flirted with some ideas but my favourite thing in Free Guy is that Taika‘s character in an original movie mocking the idea of releasing something new. It’s so rare a studio lets you make a big budget new movie. So to have Antoine played by Taika talking about sequels and having this cynical attitude towards them. I will say for anyone who’s seen the movie, if we do make Free Guy 2 it will be titled ‘Albuquerque, Boiled Turkey’! If you’ve seen the Movie you’ll get that joke! Based on one of 700 million improvised lines by Taika Waititi!

Free Guy Jodie Comer Joe Kerry Lil Rel Howery ryan reynolds shawn levy Taika Waititi Utkarsh Ambudkar