Avengers: Endgame's Chinese Opening Looks Massive

Avengers: Endgame's Chinese Opening Looks Massive

With pre-sales records broken and theaters planning round-the-clock showings, it looks likely that Avengers: Endgame will have an unprecedented debut at the domestic box office opening weekend. But while domestic audiences still have a day to go until the first preview showings begin, audiences in China, the world’s second-biggest film market, got to experience it a little earlier. Avengers: Endgame has begun its run in The Middle Kingdom and it already looks to be headed towards a massive opening.

Avengers: Endgame opened on Wednesday in China and in its first day in release it smashed the single-day record for the market with a huge $107.2 million. That easily eclipses the previous single-day record holder in the country, the local blockbuster Monster Hunt, which earned $85 million in its opening last year. It is also the best single-day opening for a Hollywood film in the country, racing past The Fate of the Furious’s $69 million.

Avengers: Endgame’s single-day record includes the record $28.2 million the movie earned from midnight preview screenings according to The Hollywood Reporter. The Avengers completely dominated Chinese cinema screens on opening day, with 99% of all movie tickets sold on Wednesday being for the 3-hour MCU epic. To satisfy demand, many of the country’s multiplexes had Endgame playing on every screen and showings were starting every 15 to 30 minutes.

This incredibly fast start portends a ridiculous opening weekend in China for Avengers: Endgame. Prior to its release, the tracking had the Russo Brothers’ film landing at around $270 million for the five-day, Wednesday-Sunday opening. Now some of those prognosticators are amending those predictions with a belief that the film could go as high as $300 million over the five-day opening.

To date, no imported film has ever cracked $500 million in China, but Avengers: Endgame could change that. Hollywood’s biggest box office hit in the country is currently 2017’s The Fate of the Furious, which finished its run with $392.8 million (Avengers: Infinity War made $359.5 million in China). Dom and the family may not hold that record for long though as Chinese online ticketing company Maoyan is projecting a $521 million run for Endgame when it’s all said and done.

We’ve seen in recent years how Hollywood blockbusters and the films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe perform well in China, and how the country’s box office buoys their worldwide totals. So it is not a surprise that Avengers: Endgame is doing well there, but it seems to be outperforming expectations.

Part of that is likely due to the positive reception the film has received. Here in the U.S., Avengers: Endgame is receiving stellar reviews and boasts a fantastic score on Rotten Tomatoes and those in China are echoing that positive reception. The film is enjoying great word of mouth and has a 9.3/10 score on the aforementioned Maoyan’s ticketing app and the more hard to please site Douban, Endgame sits at a 9.2 out of 10.

All these signs point towards Avengers: Endgame doing extremely well, perhaps historically so, over the course of its run. Combined with what is sure to be a huge domestic opening and the Avengers are going out with a serious bang.

Avengers: Endgame opens in domestic theaters this weekend. We’ll keep you updated as previous box office records get snapped to dust and check out our 2019 Release Schedule to see all the movies headed your way as we enter the summer blockbuster season.

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Why Dumbo Actually Needed A Remake

Why Dumbo Actually Needed A Remake

Disney has become fully invested in making live-action remakes of its popular animated films. In the past few years we've seen Maleficent, The Jungle Book and Beauty and the Beast, and we're going to get three remakes this year alone with Dumbo, Aladdin, and The Lion King. Many have questioned why many of these movies are even being remade in the first place, considering the fact that the original films are considered classics in their own right - but if there's one Disney movie that is certainly in worthy of being remade, it's Dumbo. The original is a movie with some serious issues that need to be fixed, and a modern update is a great way to execute those changes.

There are a couple of sequences in Dumbo that simply haven't aged well. The first, you may very well be familiar with, as it has become one of the more notorious sequences in the Disney canon. Near the end of the film, when Dumbo finds himself up a tree with no memory of how he got there (because Dumbo got drunk, you see), he meets a collection of crows. The crows speak jive, and modern audiences have widely labeled them as racist caricatures. The leader of the small gang is even named Jim Crow, which... isn't great. The crows don't represent the worst we've seen from Disney, as Dumbo isn't quite on the level of Song of the South, but they do lean heavily into African-American stereotypes. That sort of thing wasn't uncommon in the 1940s, but looking back on it we can see it's wrong.

However, the crows aren't the only problematic racial element in Dumbo. Earlier in the film, we see Dumbo's circus move to a new town and begin to be constructed. This is all done to a Disney tune called the "Song of the Roustabouts." The roustabouts are singing to, and about, themselves, while putting up the circus tents. We see a change in the animation from the previous scene, which shows Dumbo and the other elephants in perfectly clear detail, to a look where the roustabouts are mostly obscured. None of them have a clear face to distinguish them as independent characters. The only thing that's clear is that they're all not white.

Beyond that, the lyrics of the "Song of the Roustabouts" are also troubling. They sing about how they are all uneducated, and that they can't read or write. They also sing about how once they get paid they'll just throw their money away, implying they wouldn't know how to do anything else. Take a listen.

However, beyond simply making a new version of Dumbo that removes these elements, there are other reasons that the Walt Disney Animated classic is a film that deserves to be remade.

Dumbo was the fourth theatrical feature released by the animation studio back in 1941, however, calling Dumbo a feature is actually being more than a little generous. The film has an official run time of only 64 minutes. It's shorter than some episodes of Game of Thrones.

The length of the film is one symptom of larger issues that Disney was facing at the time. Specifically, there was an intentional move by the studio to make Dumbo on the cheap. Since, in the case of animation, making a longer movie is simply more expensive to produce, one of the ways Dumbo was kept inexpensive was by keeping it short.

In addition to making a shorter movie, the detail work of the animation that was done clearly suffered. If you compare Dumbo to something like Pinocchio, which came before it, or Bambi, which was released after, it's clear that less detail work was done on the backgrounds and the characters, and that they don't look quite as "real" as the other animals or people in the movies Disney created in the era.

The reasons for making Dumbo cheap were simple: Walt Disney Animation Studios was in trouble. In May of 1941, 200 members of the company went on strike in an attempt to get the animators to join the Screen Cartoonists Guild. The strike lasted for nine weeks, during what would have been a prime period of work on Dumbo.

Beyond that, there were other issues. The studio's previous theatrical release, Fantasia, had bombed. This was largely due to the fact that with the start of World War II Disney movies were not seeing wide release overseas. Europe was pretty much entirely closed off, and since countries like England had been a big part of Disney's success with other films, the end of that market hit the company hard.

As such, the Disney studio had begun to make a hard turn toward creating other types of films. Even before Dumbo hit theaters Disney had been commissioned to make short film to promote the sale of Canadian War Bonds and instructional videos on aircraft construction. A large part of what the studio produced in the early 1940s were training films for military use and propaganda shorts. The U.S. would enter the war officially only a couple of months after Dumbo hit theaters and from that point until the end of the war the studio was largely focused on the war effort. The studio itself was commandeered by the U.S. Army and soundstages were used to repair military equipment.

The simple fact is that Disney wasn't able to give Dumbo the attention it deserved during its creation. You can tell that the movie is far too short considering the movie ends at the point where most films would just be getting started. The resolution between "Dumbo learns he can fly" and "Dumbo becomes the star of the circus and everybody lives happily ever after" happens within only a couple of minutes.

And Dumbo is a story worth telling right. When I watched every animated Disney movie a couple years ago in chronological order, Dumbo was the first one to make me want to tear up. The "Baby Mine" sequence is beautiful, but it's one moment a story that otherwise feels like it was put together in much more haphazard fashion. It's clear from the trailers that there's a lot more going on in this new version and that, at least in theory, is a good call.

There's certainly an argument to be made that not every animated Disney movie needs a remake. Just what did the live-action Beauty and the Beast really add to the story? However, if there's a Disney movie that could truly benefit from a remake, it's Dumbo. Now I just hope it's actually good.

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Avengers: Endgame And The Battle Of Winterfell Are Both This Weekend, And I’m Exhausted

Avengers: Endgame And The Battle Of Winterfell Are Both This Weekend, And I’m Exhausted

Part of being movie/TV fan means investing your time and money. You follow onscreen adventures for years, never missing out on a single episode or big screen opening. But eventually things must come to an end, and finales offer the chance for long-awaited payoffs and narrative conclusions.

That's exactly what's happening this week with Avengers: Endgame, which is the cumulation of the past 21 Marvel blockbusters and over a decade of filmmaking. It's a massively ambitious blockbuster, perhaps even more than Infinity War, and really pays off for the fans who have shelled out money to each installment of the behemoth franchise. I saw the movie last night, and I'm emotionally spent and can't really think about much else today.

But as soon as I exited the theater and began recapping just how satisfying and thrilling Endgame was, I had one thought: we have to do this all again in two days. Because shortly after Endgame is digested by the rabid fanbdom, we'll be glued to our TV screens for this Sunday's episode of Game of Thrones.

Episode 3 will contain the Battle of Winterfell, teased to be the biggest medieval battle sequence in film history. Most of the show's surviving characters have gathered in The North to battle the Night King and his army of the dead, and smart money says that we're going to lose plenty of fan favorites throughout the course of the next episode.

Game of Thrones has the potential to be more suspenseful and gut wrenching that Avengers: Endgame, which is really saying something. HBO's acclaimed series has always known just how to break the fandom's hearts, and is far more cruel that the MCU has ever been. So just when you may have pulled your emotions back together following an Endgame screening, GoT is here to emotionally devastate.

The stakes couldn't be higher for either the Marvel Cinematic Universe or Game of Thrones in its final season. Fans have spent a ton of time following both properties across eight season and 21 movies, and therefore have emotional connections to the characters. The possibility of major character deaths has never felt so inevitable, and both franchises have shown they weren't afraid to kill off fan favorites.

Related: 7 Game Of Thrones Theories About The Battle Of Winterfell That Could Come True

At the time of writing, its Friday morning and I'm still pretty exhausted from the experience of Endgame's wild three hour ride. Luckily I've got two days to recover before Game of Thrones, but there are plenty of fans who didn't run out to the opening night showings of the the latest Avengers movie. What's more, I've got a few friends who are seeing Endgame on Sunday, and then watching The Battle of Winterfell that night. I need a drink just thinking about that.

Now, I'm not complaining. This week is full of payoffs and top notch content to enjoy, but you've got to wonder exactly when the powers that be realized how Marvel and HBO's scheduled overlapped in such an epic way. But what's clear is that plenty of people are going to walking around Monday morning in dire need of coffee and possibly some therapy.

Avengers: Endgame is in theaters now, and Game of Thrones will premiere its third episode this Sunday on HBO. In the meantime, check out our 2019 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.

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New Child's Play Poster Throws Savage Shade At Toy Story 4

New Child's Play Poster Throws Savage Shade At Toy Story 4

This summer, two opposing movies centering on toys will hit theaters on the exact same day: Child’s Play and Toy Story 4. Though each of them may be offering some movie nostalgia to their respective fans when they go toe-to-toe at the box office, they are certainly catering to different audiences. Either way, Chucky isn’t taking any chances at being overshadowed for his upcoming return to the big screen. Just take a look at this:

Uhh… guys… it looks like Chucky murdered Woody. Maybe the Pixar franchise should have finished at Toy Story 3 in 2010 with its endearing ending, because this is not how we wanted to see the beloved Tom Hanks character's days end. The new Child’s Play poster via the film’s Twitter is reminiscent of one of Toy Story 4’s that had Woody tipping his cowboy hat to the same muted tones and font to accompany it. Take a look below for comparison:

The clever piece of marketing takes full advantage of the side-by-side billing the two movies are set to share in June. Do you think the studio nabbed the same spot as Toy Story 4 for this reason? It doesn’t seem likely since the animated sequel is one of the most highly-anticipated sequels of the year.

Early tracking has Toy Story 4 at making $130 million in its first weekend, likely topping numbers during its debut, while Child’s Play is looking at numbers closer to the $12-$22 million range. So while the poster may signify Toy Story 4 receiving the beating this summer, it will more realistically be the other way around.

Child’s Play will be the eighth Chucky film (five of which have had a theatrical release), in a franchise that has collectively made $176 million worldwide unadjusted. The upcoming version will be a reimagining of the horror tale. Instead of Chucky encompassing the soul of a killer, the evil doll will be an A.I. model gone wrong. The plastic knife-wielding villain will be voiced by Star Wars’ Mark Hamill.

Widespread audiences are much more keen on the friendly toys, as the Pixar trilogy has made close to $2 billion worldwide unadjusted since the franchise kickstarted the animated studio’s success in 1995. The fourth film will be exploring the “creepy doll,” as one of their new characters will be a ‘60s pull-string doll named Gabby Gabby (voiced by Christina Hendricks). The movie’s potential villain has a small army of ventriloquist dummy henchmen to do her bidding.

While Toy Story 4 will likely defeat Chucky in box office numbers, the Pixar film has nothing on Child’s Play out-of-box social media tactics. The upcoming R-rated film even celebrated 420 with an odd weed-themed poster.

Which movie will you be seeing on June 21? Child’s Play or Toy Story 4? Let us know in the comments below!

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Sonic The Hedgehog Will Have 'Edgy' Moments, According To Jim Carrey

Sonic The Hedgehog Will Have 'Edgy' Moments, According To Jim Carrey

Unlike his more squeaky clean and family-friendly Nintendo counterpart Mario, Sega’s Sonic the Hedgehog has always seemed cooler, more mature and rocked way more attitude. As the Blue Blur prepares to make his big screen debut in November’s Sonic the Hedgehog, it is natural to wonder if he will retain the qualities that once had many kids swearing allegiance to Team Sega. According to Jim Carrey, who plays Dr. Ivo Robotnik, Sonic the Hedgehog will have ‘edgy’ moments, as he explained:

We're playing to families, so you can't get too crazy. But I made sure that there are some winks and nods, and edgy things that are still acceptable to both age groups.

First and foremost, Jim Carrey told IMDb that Sonic the Hedgehog is geared towards families, so anyone hoping for a dark, R-rated adaptation that has Sonic flipping people off as he speeds by will want to temper those expectations. Sonic the Hedgehog will be a family-friendly, four-quadrant movie, but that doesn’t mean it won’t have an edge to it, and Jim Carrey is making sure that it does.

The actor who plays the villainous Dr. Robotnik, or Eggman if you prefer, made sure that, at least in his performance, there are some edgier things for audiences to pick up on that will appeal to the older crowd, while simultaneously not making Sonic the Hedgehog unsuitable for younger viewers. That he will be delivering some of the film’s edgy moments just adds to the exciting prospect of seeing Jim Carrey chewing the scenery as the villainous mad scientist.

With Deadpool and Terminator: Dark Fate director Tim Miller executive producing Sonic the Hedgehog, hopefully that edge exists throughout the film and not just in Jim Carrey’s character. Because although this will obviously be a film meant to appeal to kids, I think there is still a desire for it to feel cool and have some attitude to it. And there are ways to have that edge without taking the movie out of the family-friendly Green Hill Zone.

What Jim Carrey describes is a quality that all the best family-friendly films have. Lots of kid movies are a slog to sit through because they are only appealing to kids in a very simplistic fashion, but when a good movie has a compelling story with subtext, references or winks to things that work on another level for adults, that edge makes the movie great for everyone.

If Sonic the Hedgehog is able to achieve that it will be half the battle. Although there have been some highly controversial posters for the film so far (perhaps not the edginess they were looking for), we are still waiting on a trailer for the movie. When it arrives, hopefully we’ll get a taste of what Jim Carrey is alluding to with some edgy moments that inspire confidence in this latest attempt to make a great video game movie.

Sonic the Hedgehog races into theaters on November 8. Check out our 2019 Release Schedule to keep track of all the biggest movies headed your way this year.

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Toy Story 4’s Poster Has An Up Easter Egg

Toy Story 4’s Poster Has An Up Easter Egg

Pixar is notorious for hiding in easter eggs and references from their other heartwarming family flicks into the fabric of the animation, such as a Pizza Planet truck zooming past Miguel in Coco. There are usually tons more clever tie-ins hidden in plain sight or tucked away in Pixar movies then moviegoers can attempt to spot. In anticipation for Toy Story 4, fans have already spotted a few within the film’s marketing including this one from 2009’s Up on the new poster. Take a look:

Do you see it? The amazing find from @CultureCrave on Twitter points to a painted on the wall on the left that spoofs the famous Dogs Playing Poker painting, but with the gang of hounds from Up, including Dug on the right and the movie’s villain, Charles Muntz on the left.

I personally wouldn’t have even thought about playing “I, Spy” with this movie poster! The center of the image already has a lot to unpack including Bo Peep’s new look (and the mini toy on her shoulder), Forky looking to be having an identity crisis, Key and Peele’s carnival animal characters, Christina Hendrick’s creepy Gabby Gabby character and dummy friends. Oh, and that high-flying motorcyclist up top.

The easter egg on the side of the poster is a brilliant nod to another one of Pixar’s releases, and certainly has us excited for more references to look closely for when the movie comes out. A couple days ago another easter egg was found within the most recent Toy Story 4 trailer. In the background of the shot where Bonnie is making Forky in class, Boo from Monsters’ Inc can be seen. Take a look:

Boo is that blurry figure to Bonnie’s right! These are so fun, and major props to the fans who have already found some Pixar easter eggs ahead of Toy Story 4’s release. Since the latest trailer for the movie, fans have also been theorizing about Andy’s potential role in the movie and if there will be a time jump in order to conclude the 24-year-old saga.

Toy Story 4 will follow Woody, Buzz and the gang as Bonnie and her family go on a summer road trip with her new toy, Forky – a craft project who is set on leaving her behind because he’s not meant to be a toy. Woody enlists himself to bring Forky back to Bonnie, though when he reunites with his lost love Bo Peep, he starts to change his mind about staying Bonnie’s toy too.

You can look out for more easter eggs when latest Pixar film hits theaters on June 21, 2019.

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Vin Diesel Breaks Silence Over James Gunn’s Reinstatement For Guardians 3

Vin Diesel Breaks Silence Over James Gunn’s Reinstatement For Guardians 3

It's an extremely exciting time in The Marvel Cinematic Universe, as the 22 film long Infinity Saga comes to a close with Avengers: Endgame. Moviegoers have spent a decade seeing each and every installment in the shared universe, and the future post-Endgame is largely a mystery. This includes the release date of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which hasn't been revealed since James Gunn was rehired as the film's director.

The highly anticipated Guardians threequel was originally set to be one of the first installments in Marvel's Phase Four, although James Gunn's firing last July put the movie on indefinite hold. He was recently reinstated as the movie's director, which is something the fans and cast seem thrilled about. Now Vin Diesel has broken his silence on the matter, recently posting on social media saying:

Later in the week I had the luxury of seeing [Marvel Studios president] Kevin Feige and [co-president] Louis [D’Esposito], and it’s amazing to see how sacred the Groot character is to the whole Marvel universe. Shout out to Alan Horn for using his heart to in making the right decisions for Guardians 3.

While not mentioning James Gunn by name, Vin Diesel thanks Marvel producer Alan Horn for making the "right decision." I think we all know that he means by that.

Vin Diesel's comments come from his recent Instagram post, and shouldn't exactly surprise the fandom. Following James Gunn's unceremonious departure from the Guardians franchise, the cast of actors wrote a letter in solidarity with their director/producer. Diesel was included, so his feelings about the Gunn's reinstatement make a great deal of sense.

Related: How Fast Groot Is Growing In The MCU, According To James Gunn

While not ever see physically onscreen, Vin Diesel's voice performance as Groot helped the character become massively popular when the first Guardians of the Galaxy hit theaters in 2014. And when the tree alien became an adorable baby in Guardians 2, the hype got even more real. And the last we saw him, he was a teenager age in Infinity War.

Check out Vin Diesel's Instagram video below.

It should be interesting to see where Groot goes in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. He'll presumably age more, and present another form of the character in the threequel. This may give the opportunity for Vin Diesel's real voice to be used, without the effects needed to bring the younger version of Groot to life in his most recent appearances. We'll just have to see.

It's currently unclear when Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will hit theaters, but you can catch up with Groot in Avengers: Endgame in theaters now. In the meantime, be sure to check out our 2019 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.

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