How many times will movies with strong female characters and diverse casts need to absolutely destroy on opening weekend before Hollywood gets the message? This should be the norm for filmmaking going forward, not the exception.
The raunchy R-rated comedy Girls Trip, starring Jada Pinkett Smith, Regina Hall, Tiffany Haddish, and Queen Latifah, achieved an incredible A+ audience rating score and racked up a jaw-dropping $30.4 million at the box office. THR points out that Girls Trip‘s haul is “the best start for an R-rated comedy in two years and the best showing for any live-action comedy so far this year. The movie achieved those distinctions because it appealed to an array of audiences: African Americans made up 51 percent of ticket buyers, followed by Caucasians at 38 percent.” Hey, did you know that audiences universally appreciate excellent casting and scripts and women being goddamned hilarious? It’s so funny how that works out!
By contrast, Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk also had a strong opening with $50.5 million, but that movie had $100 million budget and wall-to-wall ad campaigns, whereas Girls Trip was a steal with a $20 million budget. This is the summer of leading ladies absolutely owning critical praise and mining box office gold. Hollywood, MORE OF THIS. I want to stop writing about successful badass women-at-the-forefront properties having to prove anything to anyone anymore. (via THR)
- Wait, what?
Uhhhh… https://t.co/kxX7yklIxe
— Jill Pantozzi ♿ (@JillPantozzi) July 24, 2017
And then the plot, it thickens, after the TSA straight-up denies it had any part in the comics travel ban.
- Swimmer Michael Phelps raced a shark, or something? I was in the woods all weekend. Someone has to parse this one for me. (via Pajiba)
- All of the other Funkos can go home forever.
The most exclusive @OriginalFunko Pop you’ll find at #SDCC pic.twitter.com/GRJRWfDwTq
— Robert Warners (@LegionofSand) July 23, 2017
- This is really, really not a good look for Ready Player One author Ernest Cline, a.k.a. “Nerd Porn Auteur.”
The guy who wrote Ready Player One also wrote this fucking incredible, awful screed about wanting to fuck nerd girls https://t.co/9buyqytZnW
— Jake Sulyvahn (@InstantGratSA) July 24, 2017
- A better way to act is to be like Circa Survive guitarist Brendan Ekstrom, who stopped his performance mid-song to alert security after catching sight of a woman being sexually harassed in the crowd. (via The Daily Dot)
- Every time I think I can’t be more excited for Thor: Ragnarok I am actually incorrect in this assumption.
Me and some wannabeme’s. #Ragnarok #latimes #SDCC2017 pic.twitter.com/YWGJTKnCg1
— Taika Waititi (@TaikaWaititi) July 24, 2017
- The Pokemon Go Fest was an unmitigated disaster where players could not even play Pokemon Go. I imagine it was a little bit like spending the day as a magikarp, basically just helplessly thrashing around in a field. (via Polygon)
So what’s on your mind today, my little fishies?
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(image: Universal Studios)
