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“Ready Player One” Becomes Spielberg’s Biggest Hit In Years

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By Creative Media Times

Warner Bros. Pictures

With $300 million global box-office haul after a week in release, the nostalgia-fueled “Ready Player One” becomes one of director Steven Spielberg’s biggest hit in many years.

By the end of this weekend, the film could potentially surpass the lifetime gross of 2011’s “The Adventures of Tintin” ($374 million) thereby becoming the Academy Award winning director’s biggest hit since Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, released in summer of 2008.

The virtual reality sci-fi adventure is doing gangbuster business particularly in China, where it has so far made $143 million, as reported by Hollywood Reporter. This makes Ready Player One the biggest Warner Bros. release in the Middle Kingdom after merely a week in release. The film opens in Germany this weekend and the following weekend on April 20 in Japan.

Domestically, the feature adaptation of the eponymous Ernest Cline novel topped the boxoffice over the Easter weekend. It is expected to drop behind “A Quiet Place”, the critically acclaimed horror thriller from John Krasinski, which is poised to take the lead this weekend.

“Ready Player One” follows protagonist Wade Watts (played by Tye Sheridan) as he enters the virtual-reality world of OASIS in search of an Easter egg, the discovery of which will lead to the game creator’s fortunes. The film co-stars Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn, Lena Waithe, T.J. Miller, Philip Zhao, Win Morisaki, Hannah John-Kamen, Simon Pegg, and Mark Rylance.

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First Look At “Whitney” Documentary

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By Creative Media Times

A new Whitney Houston documentary is on the way, offering a behind-the-scenes look the singer’s life and career.

Produced by her own sister-in-law Patricia Houston, the biopic features personal video camera recordings and never-before-seen private family footage, and is said to be the first documentary approved by Houston’s estate.

The new movie also feature original performances, previously unreleased demo recordings, and audio archive throughout the singer’s career.

Whitney rose to fame in the in 80s with multiple pop hits that topped the charts, eventually becoming one of the best-selling music artists of all time. She later made her big screen debut in the highly successful The Bodyguard (1992). Whitney tragically died in 2012.

Directed by Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Kevin Macdonald (One Day in September, Touching the Void, The Last King of Scotland), “Whitney” is scheduled for release on July 6, 2018.

https://youtu.be/-Oy0Zl6sxxU

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“Solo: A Star Wars Story” Set To Premiere At Cannes

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By Creative Media Times

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Lucasfilm and Walt Disney Studios’ summer tentpole “Solo: A Star Wars Story” is set to make its debut at the Cannes Film Festival, where its set to screen out of competition.

The highly-anticipated second Star Wars spin-off is set to premiere at the prestigious festival on May 15, 2018, that is ten full days before its official release in the United States on May 25, 2018.

The premiere is certainly a surprise given that the Cannes Film Fest is known to platform artsy highbrow films than Hollywood blockbusters. But that is actually not always the case. In fact, George Lucas’ “Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith” officially premiered on the same day thirteen years ago at the festival.

Directed by Ron Howard and produced by Lucasfilm from a screenplay by Lawrence and Jon Kasdan, the film is an origin story of the iconic character and focuses on his adventures, with Alden Ehrenreich playing the younger version of the title character. Also in the film are Woody Harrelson, Emilia Clarke, Donald Glover, Thandie Newton, Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Joonas Suotamo.

Cannes Film Festival will run from May 8 to 19, with the competition jury headed by Cate Blanchett. Asghar Farhadi’s psychological thriller “Everybody Knows” starring Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem is scheduled to open the festival.

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Review: Leon Bridges Serves Jazz Soul In Bet Ain’t Worth The Hand and Bad Bad News

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By Niy Birden

Columbia

There’s a certain magical occurrence that happens when soul and jazz is formed. Something almost more magical than R&B itself. And Leon Bridges certainly knows that.

It is safe to say that Leon Bridges won’t be abandoning the genres for a while-in fact at this point it almost seems as if he is set out to master it. Not only was his debut album a cornucopia of early R&B that shaped American music’s history, but his original compositions within it were written in such a way that would make one wonder if they were instead covers of actual songs done before his time.

It would be hard to say that he is in the top list of mainstream R&B artists right now, but only due to the fact that his sound is so authentically vintage that it doesn’t necessarily par up to the modern techniques of musicians on the charts currently. But he isn’t so far-off with his sound that he is an oddity or unworthy of the same praise. He’s simply in his own carefully-crafted lane. And this lane is becoming even more intriguing recently.

Leon first burst onto the scene with his nostalgia-infused debut Coming Home, which spanned a few hits such as “Lisa Sawyer”, the title track itself, and “River”, which was accompanied with a political and sentimental nod to religion. His noticeable adornment and affiliation with Motown-everything gave him a special place in the industry. Oddly enough, Leon- who was born Todd Michael “Leon” Bridges in Texas, was studying to be a dancer. But a chance with a friend in possession of a guitar and a few gigs created the triple-threat we have come to know.
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“A Quiet Place” Final Trailer

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By Creative Media Times

Paramount Pictures

With the film set to open next weekend, Paramount Pictures has released the final trailer for “A Quiet Place,” a supernatural horror film directed by John Krasinski.

There is potential for the film to surprise at the box-office: the film premiered at the South by Southwest Film Festival where it earned rave reviews.

The buzz continued since, and as of today “A Quiet Place” currently sports a perfect 100% fresh rating from Rotten Tomatoes, with many critics praising Krasinski’s directorial effort.

True to the film’s title, the trailer is moody and light on dialogue. The film follows a family of four as they navigate a world in silence while mysterious creatures hunt by sound.

Written by Krasinski, Bryan Woods, and Scott Beck, the film co-stars the director’s real-life wife Emily Blunt, a first time for the couple working together. Also in the film are Noah Jupe (Suburbicon) and Millicent Simmonds (Wonderstruck).

Based on a story by Woods and Beck, the film is set to open next weekend, April 6.

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Ten Shows Renewed By CW

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By Creative Media Times

Its a good day for The CW fans as the network has announced Monday that ten of their current hit shows is getting renewed for the 2018-2019 season.

That includes all of CW’s DC superhero series including The Flash (Season 5), Arrow (Season 7), Legends of Tomorrow (Season 4), Supergirl (Season 4), and the latest addition to its superhero slate Black Lightnight (Season 2).

“As The CW expands to a six-night, Sunday through Friday schedule next season, we are proud to have such a deep bench of great returning series for 2018-19. By picking these ten series up for next season, we have a terrific selection of programming to choose from when we set our fall schedule in May, with more still to come,” said Pedowitz. “And I’m especially happy that we’ll continue to work with the incredibly talented casts, producers, and writers who create the series our fans are so passionate about.”

Others getting renewed are Crazy Ex-Girlfriend in it’s fourth season, Jane the Virgin in its fifth, Riverdale in its third, Dynasty’s second season as well as Supernatural, already the longest-running series in CW history, in its stunning 14th season.

Other shows waiting for their fate are “iZombie,” supposedly in its fourth season, “Life Sentence” which just recently debuted last month, and “The 100”.

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Teens Have Superpowers In Latest “The Darkest Minds” Trailer

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By Creative Media Times

20th Century Fox

Based on Alexandra Bracken’s YA novel, 20th Century Fox’s science fiction thriller film “The Darkest Minds” has a new trailer showcasing teens with superpowers.

Directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson, who co-directed Kung Fu Panda 3 with Alessandro Carloni, the trailer features a dystonian future where a plague killed many children while the few who survived developed special abilities. One of them is 16-year old Ruby Daly (Amandla Stenberg) who is learning how to control her powers as she escapes from a camp where the teens are rounded up.

“From the producers of Stranger Things and Arrival”, the film has obvious similarities to X-Men, which could potentially help visibility of The Darkest Minds. A new X-Men spin off “New Mutants” about teenage mutants held in secret facility was moved to a late summer 2019 release date. The film rights of that franchise is also owned by 20th Century Fox.

Written by Chad Hodge (Wayward Pines), the film also stars Harris Dickinson, Skylan Brooks, Mandy Moore, Gwendoline Christie and Patrick Gibson.

“The Darkest Minds” is set to unleash on August 3, 2018.

Here’s the film’s official synopsis:

When teens mysteriously develop powerful new abilities, they are declared a threat by the government and detained. Sixteen-year-old Ruby, one of the most powerful young people anyone has encountered, escapes her camp and joins a group of runaway teens seeking safe haven. Soon this newfound family realizes that, in a world in which the adults in power have betrayed them, running is not enough and they must wage a resistance, using their collective power to take back control of their future.

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Music Sales: Physical Beat Digital According To Latest Report

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By Jorell Zapanta

For the first time since 2011, digital music downloads were outsold by physical sales by the end of 2017, according to a recently published report from The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

While the difference is relatively little in terms of percentage (physical sales were 17%, while digital downloads were 15% of the market share), that is still surprising, given the consumer market’s increasing propensity towards purchasing digital content in all forms of entertainment.

Video games, for example, have shown a trend in recent years towards a decrease in physical purchases and an increase in digital purchases. Here are the market share percentages for physical and digital copies of video game purchases from 2009 to 2016 according to Statista:
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James Wan To Work On “Tommyknockers” Film

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By Creative Media Times

Putnam

After last year’s hugely successful supernatural horror film “It”, Stephen King adaptations are a hot commodity again once again. This time, its “The Tommyknockers” that’s getting a big screen adaptation, with James Wan getting involved according to Hollywood Reporter alongside Roy Lee and Larry Sanitsky.

The trio seem like a perfect match. James Wan is a driving force behind the Conjuring franchise, Roy Lee produced King’s blockbuster “It” film, and Sanitsky executive produced “The Tommyknockers” two part television mini-series which broadcast on ABC in 1993.

But with King’s name attached, the novel’s popularity can stand on it’s own. Tommyknockers is an international hardcover best-seller, outselling even some of King’s bibliography such as The Shining and Carrie. That said, the author was not very fond of the book, at one point calling it “awful” during an interview with Rolling Stone magazine decades after its release.

Published in 1987, The Tommyknockers follows the story of a small town in Maine, where a dangerous gas emits from a spaceship uncovered in the woods. The gas transforms the town’s residents except for one man who is immune to it’s effects.

James wan is currently directing Aquaman, the sixth installment in the DC Extended Universe, set for release later this year.

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Colin Trevorrow Returning To Jurassic World

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By Creative Media Times

Universal Pictures

With “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom” set for release on this year’s summer, the producers of the franchise is already lining up a director for the “Jurassic World 3.”

“Colin Trevorrow is going write and direct the third Jurassic World story,” according to Steven Spielberg in a statement released on Entertainment Weekly. Spielberg’s latest film “Ready Player One” is out this weekend.

Trevorrow of course rebooted the Jurassic Park franchise with the massively successful 2015 film “Jurassic World.” That film went on to become one of the highest grossing films of all time, grossing $1.67 billion worldwide. Trevorrow’s last film, The Book of Henry, was not as well received both critically and commercially.

J.A. Bayona took over the director took over the reins as director for “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom” after leaving directing duties in World War Z sequel though
Colin Trevorrow wrote the script with Derek Connolly (Kong: Skull Island.)

“Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom” stars stars Jeff Goldblum, Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Toby Jones, James Cromwell and is scheduled for release on June 22.

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