Avengers Endgame Box Office: A Strong Opening From Detective Pikachu Isn't Enough

Avengers Endgame Box Office: A Strong Opening From Detective Pikachu Isn't Enough

For the first time since it began its run a few weeks ago, Avengers: Endgame was actually tested at the weekend box office. The latest from the Marvel Cinematic Universe got all it could handle thanks to a strong opening weekend from Detective Pikachu, but in the end, Cap and company are still hanging out on top. They did just enough to keep the first place position though it's hard to imagine anyone involved with the Pokemon Company is too upset about an opening over $50M.

You can check out the full results from this weekend's box office, including those from newcomers Detective Pikachu, The Hustle, Poms and Tolkien below...

This third weekend for Avengers: Endgame is probably a combination of word of mouth and repeat business. Most people who desperately want to see a movie that's heavy on spoilers will find a way to get there the first two weekends. So, the people left can probably be divided into two groups: those who were on the fence about seeing it and got talked into it by the overwhelming positivity and those who enjoyed it so much they felt the need to go back. Anecdotally, we've heard that a lot in our comment section here at CinemaBlend. People keep making comments like, "I noticed X on my second time through" or "I can't wait to see whether my viewpoint on X changes when I see it a second/ third time." So, you can deliver all of that credit to the people involved with the production itself. Disney might have an incredible hype machine to deliver on opening weekend, but that machine isn't delivering these results on the third weekend.

As for Detective Pikachu, $58M is a really solid opening weekend for a movie with an estimated $150M budget. There have been high high hopes for awhile from both the studio and from fans that the film would produce enough of a result to a launch a larger Pokemon-themed cinematic universe. I wouldn't say it's done enough yet, but that possibility is very much in play right now. As such, fans should keep their fingers crossed for a solid second weekend, some strong social media buzz and engagement and eventually good home entertainment sales.

Outside of Detective Pikachu, it's hard to be excited about any of the openings for new films this weekend. The Hustle at least broke eight figures in domestic grosses, but the reviews on it have not been good and it's hard to imagine a scenario in which it put up a good performance next weekend. The same could be said for Poms, though it's 29% score on Rotten Tomatoes makes it look like Toy Story 3 compared to The Hustle which was hammered (including by us) with a miserable 16%.

Things should get very interesting next weekend when John Wick 3 is added to the release schedule. I'd expect a first place finish for the assassin, but as we saw this week, Avengers: Endgame certainly isn't going down without a fight.

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Paul Rudd Has A Valid Concern Over Ant-Man And Thanos’ Butt Theory For Endgame

Paul Rudd Has A Valid Concern Over Ant-Man And Thanos’ Butt Theory For Endgame

After a year of waiting, moviegoers are just weeks away from the release of Avengers: Endgame. The Russo Brothers' upcoming blockbuster will catch up with the surviving heroes in the wake of Infinity War, which saw Thanos wipe out half of all life with the snap of his finger. In addition to ending Phase Three, Endgame will also follow-up on characters that were missing from the last installment: Hawkeye, Captain Marvel, and Ant-Man.

Marvel fans are eager to see Paul Rudd's Scott Lang join the battle against Thanos, and team-up alongside the rest of the Avengers. But there's a viral fan theory floating around that's getting everyone attention. Namely, that Ant-Man will shrink, enter Thanos' anus, and then grow to normal size in order to destroy the big purple villain. It's a theory that the cast seems to enjoy, although Rudd has a valid issue with it all, recently saying:

A lot of people have asked me recently if I shrink down and go… into Thanos, in a certain orifice, and then grow giant size. But why not the ear or the nose? Why does it have to be [that]?

The man has a point. While Ant-Man using his shrinking and growing Pym Tech to kill Thanos seems like a viable way to take down the ultra powerful titan, it doesn't necessarily have to be through his big purple butt. He could just as easy jump into Thanos' ears or nose. But that's just not as fun.

Paul Rudd's hilarious response comes from his recent appearance on The Graham Norton Show. While promoting his role in the upcoming release of Avengers: Endgame, Rudd was also asked to address the butt-tastic fan theory involving his character. That's when his A+ response came, and brought a fair point about the other orifices on the Mad Titan's body.

This isn't the first time that the Ant-Man/Thanos' butt theory has been addressed by the cast. Josh Brolin himself posted a bonkers response video from the toilet, so it's clear that both parties have a good sense of humor about it all. Considering the high stakes of Avengers: Endgame, it's probably a nice change of pace to laugh about such a bonkers fan theory.

You can see Paul Rudd's comments about Ant-Man and Thanos below.

Once again, Paul Rudd proves himself to be the most charming dude ever. And considering the bleak world being advertised in Avengers: Endgame's marketing campaign, that type of energy is going to be necessary to buoy the long project, and keep things bright while the stakes are at an all-time high.

All will be revealed when Avengers: Endgame arrives in theaters on April 26th. In the meantime, check out our 2019 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.

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Captain Marvel End Credit Scenes: What Happens, And What They Mean

Captain Marvel End Credit Scenes: What Happens, And What They Mean

Sometimes there’s one, sometimes there’s two, sometimes there’s five, but if a new Marvel Studios film is coming, one thing is certain: there is going to be an end credit sequence. It’s been a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe tradition from the very beginning, and more than 20 movies and 10 years later it remains as strong as ever. It’s one that proudly continues in Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck’s Captain Marvel, which provides both a cool peek at the future for the titular hero, and a funny final moment for audiences as they leave the theater.

So what happens, and what does it all mean? That’s what we’re here to discuss in this feature – breaking it all down and dissecting what it means. So let’s dive in, but first I’ll take care of this formality:

SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains massive spoilers for Captain Marvel. If you have not yet seen the film, and don't wish to know major, important details about the ending, please bookmark this page and come back after your screening!

Captain Marvel Meets The Avengers

Most Marvel Studios end credits scenes are original creations that were imagined either before or during production of a given film, but there are others that are a bit different. Specifically, rather than being original pieces, they are instead actually clips from upcoming releases. This was first done when the first “trailer” for The Avengers was attached to the end of Captain America: The First Avenger, but other examples can be found in movies like Ant-Man (which teased Captain America: Civil War) and Doctor Strange (which teased Thor: Ragnarok). Now Captain Marvel can be added to that particular list, as what we see as the mid-credits sequence appears to be an edited bit from Joe and Anthony Russo’s upcoming Avengers: Endgame.

Taking us back to the present following the movie’s 1990s-set adventure, the sequence begins with a close-up on Nick Fury’s special pager that we first got to see in the post-credits scene of Avengers: Infinity War. However, instead of displaying the Captain Marvel logo it instead suddenly shuts off.

This is brought to the attention of Captain America (Chris Evans) and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) as they are in Avengers headquarters watching screens tabulating the deaths caused by The Decimation – discussing the utter nightmare of it all. It’s Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) who first notices that the device has gone dark, and along with James Rhodes (Don Cheadle) they try and figure out what’s going on.

It’s noted that pager has been set up with an external power source to run indefinitely, so it’s not a battery issue, and it’s unclear why exactly it would just stop functioning. All the same, they are desperate to know what it is going on with it, and who Fury was trying to contact with its signal. As Black Widow turns to leave, she suddenly finds herself face-to-face with Captain Marvel (Brie Larson), who has returned to Earth following her cosmic adventures. She doesn’t appear to be too happy, though, and has only one question for the group: “Where’s Fury?”

At the end of Captain Marvel, Carol Danvers makes the decision to go out into the furthest reaches of space and help the Skrulls establish a new society, but beyond that we don’t really know much about where she has been for the majority of the last 25 years. That being said, she surely saw the effects of The Decimation regardless of where she was in the universe at the time of Thanos’ snap, and getting the page from Nick Fury as half the people around her disappeared likely wasn’t viewed as a coincidence. It’s probably fair to assume that the special pager turned off as soon as she returned to Earth, and given that she is possibly totally unaware of the existence of the Avengers, it’s not exactly surprising that the first person she looks for is the man who called her back to the planet.

How Carol Danvers will interact with the remaining heroes in Avengers: Endgame is one of the most anticipated aspects of the upcoming blockbuster, and this mid-credits sequence gives us a nice taste. Obviously there is still basically everything left to explore – from everybody explaining who they are and what the hell happened, to how they plan to work together and fix everything – but for now at least we have an idea of the introduction’s context.

Goose Returns The Tesseract

The Tesseract has taken a long, strange journey through the Marvel Cinematic Universe. We got our first look at it all the way back in the post-credits scene of Kenneth Branagh’s Thor, and since then played huge roles in three different features: Captain America: The First Avenger, The Avengers, and Avengers: Infinity War. And it’s legacy is yet another thing expanded upon in Captain Marvel.

We’ve known that the Tesseract spent decades in the possession of S.H.I.E.L.D., but what nobody knew before Captain Marvel is that it had some wild adventures between being plucked from the ocean by Howard Stark to being presented to Dr. Erik Selvig by Nick Fury. Specifically, it was used by Dr. Wendy Lawson a.k.a. Mar-Vell (Annette Bening) during research on a light speed engine, and then spent a long time being stored in her satellite laboratory. Thanks to the efforts of Carol Danvers, Nick Fury, Maria Rambeau (Lashana Lynch), and Talos (Ben Mendelsohn) it gets recovered… but then it spent some time in the mouth of a Flerken, which is what brings us to the end credits scene.

During the events of Captain Marvel we see the Flerken named Goose use its tentacles to “swallow” the Tesseract for safe keeping, but the powerful object doesn’t show up again before the end of the main movie. Instead, that bit is saved for the post-credits bit, where Goose is shown hopping up on Nick Fury’s desk. At first it starts making the familiar sound of a cat preparing to cough up a hairball, but rather than a bunch of fur and saliva pouring out of its mouth, it instead expels the Space Stone.

Rather than being a big tease for developing events in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, this is more of a one-off goof similar to the drumming giant ant at the end of Ant-Man And The Wasp, or the random rampaging monster in the final seconds of Thor: The Dark World. For what it is, though, it’s great. We probably could have assumed that this was how Nick Fury got the Tesseract back for S.H.I.E.L.D., but it’s much better that we actually got to see it happen.

What did you think about these two Captain Marvel end credit scenes? How do you think they stack up in comparison to other recent tags? What do you expect from Carol Danvers’ first meeting with the Avengers in Endgame? Do you think we’ll ever see Goose again? Tell us your answers to those questions, as well as any other appropriate thoughts, feelings, or opinions you may have in the comments section below!

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How Much Men In Black International Could Make In Its Opening Weekend

How Much Men In Black International Could Make In Its Opening Weekend

It's been seven years since the last installment of the Men in Black series, and when the franchise returns in June, it will be with an almost entirely new cast. Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson will take over from Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones. While we're still almost two months out, the first projections on the box office are coming out now, and MiB: International is currently tracking toward an opening weekend around $40 million.

While these numbers are early, and are certainly subject to change, BoxOfficePro expects Men in Black: international to end up somewhere between $30-$50 million at the start on the way to a $107 million domestic box office. That would put the new movie at the bottom of the Men in Black franchise from a box office perspective, Mien in Black 3 opened at close to $55 million on the way to a domestic total of almost $180 million, probably not where the new film wants to be.

On the other hand, Men in Black 3 is actually the highest grossing film in the franchise globally, because the international numbers for the film were much higher than the previous entries. In the 10 years between Men in Black 2 and Men in Black 3, Hollywood had made great inroads in international distribution, especially in China, where MiB 3 made $77 million. Today China is an even more important part of the global box office. If the new MiB does even better there, the movie could pay for itself in China alone.

Based on the fact that the new film is actually called Men in Black: International, one gets the impression that the foreign box office is really where the focus for the new movie is. The simple fact is that the film doesn't have to do particularly well in the U.S. if it gets embraced in enough other places.

Men in Black: International won't be the only franchise returning to the big screen in mid-June as the film will open on the same date as the new Shaft movie with Samuel L. Jackson. MiB is currently tracking to be the box office winner of the two, but only by a few million dollars, so anything is possible.

Both movies will have to also contend with The Secret Life of Pets 2, which opens the previous weekend. Animated family movies tend to have better staying power at the box office than other types of films, so both movies could lose the box office crown to a rabbit voiced by Kevin Hart.

It will be interesting to see how the first Men in Black movie without Will Smith does at the box office. We don't really know if he's so close to this franchise that it really needs him or not. We'll find out in June.

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The Very Specific Reason The Original Pet Sematary Chose Its Breed Of Cat

The Very Specific Reason The Original Pet Sematary Chose Its Breed Of Cat

Cinema history is filled with some wonderful big screen felines, and Church from Mary Lambert’s Pet Sematary is a challenging inclusion to that list. After all, while the cat is certainly cute and a pretty animal, what it goes through in the story – being killed and then brought back to life through sinister magic – is decidedly not that loveable or “wonderful.” Still, few will ever forget his presence in the fantastic Stephen King adaptation, and part of that extends from his noteworthy look – which I recently learned was specifically chosen for a pair of reasons by the director in the making of the movie.

In the 1989 film, Church is portrayed as a British Blue cat, and while speaking with Mary Lambert this week in celebration of Pet Sematary’s 30th anniversary I learned exactly why that breed was chosen. I had asked the filmmaker about her memories working with the cats on the set of the movie, and while she couldn’t name on the spot the type of cat, she did explain the key reasons why she wanted Church to have his specific look. Said Lambert,

We had a lot of cats and I chose that gray - it's a special breed, I've forgotten the name of it. It has that really thick, thick, thick fur, and they all look alike. A) They all look alike, and B) I just thought that they were kind of creepy. It looks a little bit like a plush toy. I was thinking that sort of subliminally when the cat comes back to life, it's kind of like a toy that comes to life. And I think he looks a little bit like a stuffed toy to me, that cat.

Even someone who loves cats has a really hard time falling in love with Church, and according to Mary Lambert it seems like part of that may be due to a special take on the uncanny valley. With its mono-colored and dense fur, they don’t always look entirely real, and when you’re dealing with an undead cat, that works to your advantage.

Church is, of course, a key part of Stephen King’s original novel, as the entire book was inspired by the death of the cat that belonged to the author’s daughter. This made him absolutely vital to include in the big screen adaptation, but as you can probably guess, it wasn’t exactly easy. Though Pet Sematary needed the feline presence, cats are not the easiest animals to control, and so it was actually a group effort that was needed in order to bring the character to life. Mary Lambert explained,

We had a whole army of cats. If you love cats and you own cats you know that every cat is a little different and that no cat is really completely trainable. You can have a cat that will reliably do something, but the next cat might not reliably do that. So he had a cat that was a snarler; we had a cat that was a jumper; we had a cat that was a scratcher; we had cats for everything the cat does. We had about eight or nine cats. Whatever Church needed to do, we would bring in the cat that would do it.

And now you have a much better understanding of the whole “they all look alike bit,” as well.

It clearly took a bit of extra work, but the filmmaking team was eventually able to collect all of the footage that they need to make Church’s “performance” in Pet Sematary legitimate. What was a surprise added bonus from this, however, was the fact that the material shot apparently helped the director occasionally in getting higher-ups to clear out of the editing process. As Mary Lambert noted while laughing during our interview, nothing would get executives out of her hair faster than a call to bring up the dailies for Church:

The dailies from that would be pretty funny, but not for long. That was back in the day when you actually screened dailies, and everybody that wanted to see the dailies came to the dailies screening. The execs would come, and the producers would come, and they were screened in the evening. Whenever I wanted to clear the room, I would just say, 'Put up the cat reel!'

Continuing, Mary Lambert explained what it was that was featured in the “cat reel,” and while one can imagine it being cute for a second (it’s footage of cats, after all), it would get old pretty damn quick. Apparently not only would each animal only do one specific trick, but it was still a challenge to get them to actually do it, and the cameras would have to keep rolling in order to try and get the needed material. Said Lambert,

It'd be like an hour of a spoon with a clicker and a piece of liver on it comes into the frame, and the hand holding the spoon clicks it, trying to indicate to the cat to look. And after about 30 seconds of clicking, the cat like comes in and eats it, and doesn't do what it's supposed to do. 'Okay, then take two.'

There is a good reason why that classic W.C. Fields line about not working with children and animals has stuck around the industry for about a century – and I’m not talking about the way that they steal the spotlight.

Getting all of that cat footage together was clearly a challenge, but at the end of the day it was entirely worth it - and Church remains an iconic part of the fantastic film in all his snarling and hissing glory. And now you can enjoy all the extreme horror of it all in a brand new way, as the incredibly beautiful restoration of 1989’s Pet Sematary was released on 4K and Blu-ray this past week. Copies are now available in stores everywhere, so go pick yourself up a copy, and celebrate the 30th anniversary right!

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Margot Robbie Reveals Filming Has Wrapped On Birds Of Prey

Margot Robbie Reveals Filming Has Wrapped On Birds Of Prey

It’s been a while since we were introduced to Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn in Suicide Squad, but she’s finally making her grand return to the DC Extended Universe next year in Birds of Prey. Granted, that is still a ways off, but for the cast and crew behind the film, they’ve just crossed a huge milestone, as filming has officially wrapped. Here’s how Robbie commemorated the big occasion.

Finishing principal photography is a big deal for any movie, especially blockbusters. Birds of Prey began rolling cameras in January in Los Angeles, and there was also filming conducted in Georgia. Now, after three months, this stage of the creative process, and while there’s still a lot more work to be done until Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) (yes, that’s still a mouthful) is completely finished, as far as the performing side of things go, Margot Robbie and the other actors have done their part.

Granted, there’s the possibility that Margot Robbie and others might have to come back later this year for reshoots, but those usually aren’t anywhere near as grueling as the main shoot. In any case, Robbie made sure to have her new Harley Quinn outfit on in the picture she shared on Instagram, so that was nice.

Thus far, all we’ve officially seen of Birds of Prey is a video titled ‘See You Soon’ showing the main cast members in their current costumes, with Margot Robbie getting the most attention, no doubt because we’re already familiar with Harley Quinn from Suicide Squad. She’s definitely rocking a look significantly different than during her first outing with Task Force X and even in the comics, but that just lines up with her changed status quo in the eighth DCEU movie.

When we last left off with Harley Quinn at the end of Suicide Squad, she was broken out of Belle Reve by The Joker and his goons, and the two were clearly still head over heels for one another. However, just like what’s happened in the comics, Birds of Prey sees Harley breaking up with The Clown Prince of Crime and embarking on her own in Gotham City, which is now unprotected due to Batman’s mysterious disappearance.

It’s in this environment that Harley Quinn will cross paths with Cassandra Cain, a young girl who’s being hunted by Roman Sionis, a.k.a. Black Mask, because she’s come across a diamond belonging to the crime lord. Harley will team up with Huntress, Black Canary and Detective Renee Montoya to protect Cassandra from Sionis, although given that Harley is usually fond of lawlessness and chaos, just because she’s working with some good guys doesn’t necessarily mean she won’t complicate this already dangerous situation.

Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) opens in theaters on February 7, 2020. Keep checking back with CinemaBlend for more updates on how it’s coming along, and don’t forget to look through our DC movies guide to learn what else this superhero franchise has coming down the pipeline.

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Suicide Squad 2 May Be Adding John Cena In Fun Turn Of Events

Suicide Squad 2 May Be Adding John Cena In Fun Turn Of Events

Although he’s still on the professional wrestling circuit, John Cena has also built quite the acting career over the last decade, most recently starring in movies like Blockers and Bumblebee. Now there’s word that he may finally make the jump to the superhero genre with the upcoming Suicide Squad 2, a.k.a. The Suicide Squad.

Word’s come in that John Cena is currently in talks to join Suicide Squad 2, although no details were provided in Variety’s report about who he would be playing. Assuming a deal is finalized, Cena would be the second new actor to join the sequel, following Idris Elba, who was originally going to take over as Deadshot from Will Smith, but will now play a new character instead.

If John Cena does end up joining Suicide Squad 2, he won’t be the only WWE superstar lending his acting talents to this franchise. Since 2014, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has been attached to play Shazam adversary Black Adam, and Johnson recently said that he expects the Black Adam movie to begin filming in a year. However, given that Suicide Squad 2 already has a release date and is reportedly scheduled to begin principal photography in the fall, one would imagine Cena will make his DCEU debut before Johnson.

Although John Cena was among the many actors that were rumored to being looked at to play Shazam before Zachary Levi scored the role, this Suicide Squad 2 news definitely sounds like more of a sure thing, though we’ll have to wait and see if he actually signs on. In any case, Cena showed he has blockbuster chops last winter playing Agent Jack Burns in Bumblebee, so Suicide Squad 2 would be an appropriate step up.

It’s also worth noting that if Suicide Squad 2 is tonally similar to its predecessor, and that’ll likely be the case given that James Gunn is writing and directing, then it’ll also be infused with comedy, and John Cena has shown he can be funny through Trainwreck, Sisters, Blockers and more. As for who Cena could play in Suicide Squad 2, I originally suspected characters like Blockbuster and King Shark might be candidates. However, Variety's Justin Kroll added that while not confirmed, he's heard Cena would play Peacemaker, a role originally intended for Dave Bautista.

In addition to Idris Elba and the potential inclusion of John Cena, Suicide Squad 2 also has Margot Robbie, Jai Courtney and Viola Davis lined up to reprise Harley Quinn, Captain Boomerang and Amanda Waller, respectively. Still, it’s been repeatedly said that this movie is envisioned as more of a relaunch than a direct sequel to Suicide Squad and will feature a mostly new cast, so expect more fresh faces to be announced in the coming weeks/months.

Suicide Squad 2 opens in theaters August 6, 2021, so stay tuned to CinemaBlend for continuing coverage. In the meantime, you can learn what else is coming down the DCEU pipeline by browsing through our handy guide.

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