#BOXOFFICE: “DOG MAN” BARKS IN OPENING

DOG MAN debuts with a loud bark, taking $33 million from 3,885 theatres in its opening for Universal Pictures! The adapted Animated Festure stars Pete Davidson and Lil Rel Howery.

COMPANION debuts in second with $10 million from 3,285 theatres for Warner Bros. The Drew Hancock Horror gets a fantastic 93% on the Tomatometer.

In third is MUFASA: THE LION KING with $7 million from 3,180 theatres for Disney, a total $230.4 million over seven weekends.

ONE OF THEM DAYS continues to find its footing in fourth with $6 million, taking it to $34.4 million for Sony Pictures.

Fifth is FLIGHT RISK with $5 million for Lionsgate/Cineplex Pictures, a tally of $20.3 million over two weekends.

#FIRSTLOOK: JUST FOR LAUGHS’ “SURROUNDED” BACK FOR SECOND SEASON

Just For Laughs announces today that season two of the immersive VR stand-up comedy series, Surrounded (60×6) will return for six new episodes starting December 29, 2023, with a very festive Holiday Special, exclusively on Meta Horizon Worlds. Filmed at the prestigious 2023 Just For Laughs MONTRÉAL comedy festival, Surrounded is a hilarious unscripted comedy show where the audience inspires the jokes, and everyone is fair game!

With their Meta Quest VR headset, viewers are transported into the comedy show through Meta’s Comedy Night Market, where they get to watch comedians performing improvised sets in the round, using the audience as inspiration. Viewers will be Surrounded with laughter!

Surrounded promises to deliver big laughs with this year’s host, Lil Rel Howery. Episodes will feature today’s top comedians including

Marlon Wayans, Jack Whitehall, Mae Martin, Fortune Feimster, Mark Normand, Chris Redd, Dan Soder, Jay Pharoah, Meg Stalter, Felipe Esparza, Rosebud Baker, Sam Morril, Joel Kim Booster, Hannah Berner, Nate Jackson, Brad Williams, Preacher Lawson, Sasheer Zamata, Brian Simpson, Steph Tolev, Annie Lederman, and Che Durena.

“Really excited about hosting season 2. I had so, so, so much fun. This is crowd work and freestyling at its best.” – Lil Rel Howery

Premiering with a Holiday Special on December 29, 2023 at 10:00 AM PT, additional episodes will drop every Wednesday in January 2024. Each week, be part of the audience and witness an unscripted barrage of crowd work like you’ve never seen before!

Marina Di Pancrazio, Chief Content Revenue Officer for Just For Laughs, shares, “Season two of Surrounded finds us once again at the intersection of entertainment and innovation with our exceptional partners, Meta. We’re always keen to outdo ourselves. This second season builds off the success of the first, delivering an elevated experience and incredible lineup of comedians to audiences.”

Spencer Griffin, the Head of TV Development at Just For Laughs adds, “Comedy shows in the metaverse are another way that Just for Laughs provides platforms for artists to showcase their hilarious talents. Surrounded not only offers an unparalleled experience for the artists but also for the audience who get to have the best seat in the house.”

Adapted exclusively for Meta Horizon Worlds, and filmed in VR, Surrounded originated as a stand-up comedy show created by Mike Falzone. The Just For Laughs MONTRÉAL festival is renowned as the world’s largest comedy festival, with a rich history and reputation for launching the careers of comedy legends. The iconic festival provides the ideal setting for this unscripted humor that defines this one-of-a-kind virtual comedy experience.

Filmed at the Just For Laughs Festival in Montréal in July 2023, Surrounded is executive produced by Marina Di Pancrazio, Bruce Hills, and Spencer Griffin of Just For Laughs; and Thomas Stockwell as Executive Producer for Meta, and Mike Falzone, who created the concept for the show.

#FIRSTLOOK: “LUCK” COMING TO APPLE TV+ | TEASER TRAILER

Apple TV+ are making their foray into animated features. LUCK will arrive on the streaming service this coming August! Here is your look at the brand-new Teaser!

Synopsis:

“Luck” centres around the story of Sam Greenfield, the unluckiest person in the world. When she discovers the never-before-seen Land of Luck, Sam must unite with the magical creatures there to turn her luck around. Eva Noblezada (“Hadestown,” “Miss Saigon,” “Yellow Rose”) will provide the voice for “Sam.” When she ages out of foster care, Sam discovers the Land of Luck and embarks on a quest that could change her luck forever. Simon Pegg (“Mission: Impossible,” “Ice Age,” “Star Trek Beyond”) will provide the voice for “Bob,” a lucky black cat from the Land of Luck, where “The Captain,” voiced by Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony winner Whoopi Goldberg, stands guard as the Head of Security. Bob becomes Sam’s partner in the quest to find a lucky penny in hopes of preserving his lucky life. 

Also joining is Flula Borg (“Suicide Squad 2,” “Pitch Perfect,” “Trolls World Tour”), who will provide the voice for “Jeff the Unicorn,” a larger-than-life facilities engineer who maintains the magical machine that distributes good and bad luck to the human world and who dreams of one day being reunited with his one true love, The CEO of Good Luck, The Dragon, voiced by two-time Academy Award winner Jane Fonda. Lil Rel Howery (“Free Guy,” “Vacation Friends,” “Judas and the Black Messiah”) will provide the voice for “Marv,” the owner of the “Flowers & More” store where Sam gets her first job, who is upbeat, sharply-dressed, and always ready with an encouraging word for unlucky Sam. 

Additional cast members include Colin O’Donoghue (“Once Upon a Time,” “The Right Stuff,” “The Rite”) who will provide the voice for “Gerry,” a loyal leprechaun who adores his job working with Bob at “Arrivals and Departures” in the Land of Good Luck and is the first to volunteer for any task, bringing good cheer wherever he goes. John Ratzenberger (“Cheers,” “Empire Strikes Back,” “A Bridge Too Far”) will provide the voice for “Rootie,” a bad luck root and the self-appointed mayor of Bad Luck, who runs “The Lucky Shot,” the one and only Bad Luck watering hole, where he specializes in free advice. Adelynn Spoon (“Watchmen,” “Tell Me Your Secrets,” “Sweet Magnolias”) will provide the voice for “Hazel,” Sam’s roommate and best friend at the Summerland Home for Girls, who is five years old and believes that she’ll be adopted by her forever family just as soon as she finds a real lucky penny, which Sam is determined to find her.

Check-out this adorable Care Package for LUCK which we received!

Thank you @AppleTVPlus. LUCK streams 8.5.22! 🍀 pic.twitter.com/QMmzjD8KD9

— MR. WILL WONG 📸 (@mrwillw) May 12, 2022

LUCK arrives on Apple TV+ August 5, 2022.

(Photo credit: Apple TV+)

#INTERVIEW: “VACATION FRIENDS”

By Mr. Will Wong

Taking 18 months to film, starting and stopping over the course of the Pandemic, Clay Tarver (Silicon Valley) directs VACATION FRIENDS starring John Cena and Lil Rel Howery. Centering on a couple (Lil Rel Howery and Yvonne Orji) who go on a getaway to Mexico to get married. Along the way they encounter a wild couple (John Cena and Meredith Hagner) who crash their plans, becoming a bigger part of lives than they could’ve imagined! VACATION FRIENDS really gets its audience to think about that it meant for us to be on vacation at a different time in our lives.

We were lucky to join the Global Press Conference for VACATION FRIENDS and in attendance were:

John Cena – Ron

Lil Rel Howery – Marcus

Yvonne Orji – Emily

Andrew Bachelor – Gabe

Robert Wisdom  

Clay Tarver – Director

Clay Tarver tells us about VACATION FRIENDS‘ relatability.

Tarver: I used to be a musician and still sorta am. The touring life was that every time you’d meet some new friends, doing a big bonding experience that was almost every night. But I’ve met people on vacation in Mexico where I thought we were gonna be friends forever, but once we got to the airport I thought ‘Umm, maybe not’.

John Cena, admits he’s met people in real life like his Ron and Co-Star Meredith Hagner‘s Kyla, and how he responds to that.

Cena: I’d think to take the experience in. The effect is a boomerang, you get what you give. I don’t think there’s anything disrespectful about the two of them. I just think they operate under a construct that doesn’t necessarily adhere to what we think is structural society. They’re fast and loose and really enjoy the present. That’s a very rare commodity. I’ve met people like that in real life and had a blast. I don’t know if I’d ride that wave or how far I’d go out with them, but I’d certainly enjoy their company.

Comedian Yvonne Orji recalls her most memorable experience filming VACATION FRIENDS.

Orji: Was it our last night filming in pseudo-Mexico, but actual Puerto Rico? It was a large sequencing. We did the barhopping, the wrestling scene and it was kinda like wild. There’s a scene they’re carrying Meredith out the bar and it was mayhem, but in the best way possible. We also didn’t know that the world was shutting down on the other side of the ocean. So we were in our own bubble and that was fun!

She comments on what makes for a great performance on Film, being a Comedian.

Orji: The best performances come when you’re not in your head about performing and you’re just being present and enjoying the ride. Rel and I are both Comics, so being spontaneous and being in the middle of the moment and finding whatever spontaneity comes out of that, we just go with it!

Andrew Bachelor talks about some of his intense – although comedic – scenes with Lil Rel Howery.

Bachelor: I’ve known Rel for a while, so when you’re working with your friends, it’s easier to be mean to them. It was no problem at all!

Wisdom, who has worked on THE WIRE, tries his hand at Comedy here and talks about the fun he had.

Robert: There’s a big ballroom scene where I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, but it was fun! They pulled-off some real R-rated stuff with a lot of fun. And then there’s a scene… I had a ball let’s just say. I was a little tipsy and it was fun.

Lil Rel Howery and John Cena talk about their chemistry.

Cena: I think it all starts with the professional respect we have for each other. Both of us were excited about the Script and wanted to do the Film and Clay being kind enough to let us go and be us. As Rel puts it, the words and Comedy were on the page and we just leaned into what we wanted to show. I’d love to do it again!

Howery: I’m a big Wrestling fan and I was like ‘Yo! He really loves what he does!’. Working with someone else that loves what they do, it made it really easy for us to play. I love that fact that John was open to the idea of trying new things and having fun with it even if it was the silliest thing. So hopefully we can be Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor!

Cena and Howery talk about what they hope the audience will take away from VACATION FRIENDS.

Cena: Had we been on a normal schedule, this is when it would’ve been released anyway. Because we’ve had to modify what vacation means to us, all of us know what vacation means and all of us remember our vacation moments and people we may have met on vacation. If they get anything else that’s great, but I hope they’re entertained and that they laugh,

I think the subject matter is so relatable and so desperately needed right now that especially people are having to come up with Plan B vacations and alter yet again here we are 18 months into the world changing. I think it’s going to be good for people to just sit down and enjoy a film that might might make them remember a moment of their life and smile a little bit.

Howery: I think the audience is going to enjoy seeing, it’s almost like a blueprint of what was fun and this Movie is so funny, which is why I applaud Clay. One of the things Comedy is missing is just being straight-up funny. This really is just a straight-up funny movie and laughter is so important right now. Laughter is just good for the soul.

Cena: Being a physical performer in the WWE, the reason we transcend so many borders is that you get the action. I think what they brilliantly did in the Script was provide a ton of Physical Comedy so it’s also a movie you cannot necessarily know what’s going on with the audio but see the Movie and laugh along with it, because of the tremendous amount of Physical Comedy. And I think that’s gonna help us around the world and hopefully we can make a lot more people laugh.

VACATION FRIENDS arrives on Star on Disney+ Friday, August 28, 2021.

(Photo/video credit: Disney/20th Century Studios)

#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