
Jacob Hall


Justin Timberlake to Voice a Singing Troll Doll in DreamWorks’ ‘Trolls’
There are few performers as easy to watch as Justin Timberlake and Anna Kendrick. Both are blessed with that most uncommon superpower – they walk on screen and you instantly like them, no strings attached. So any movie that casts them side-by-side deserves your attention. If that movie is a musical, that movie becomes an instant must-see. But now Hollywood have decided to test your devotion by making them the leads in the upcoming Trolls, an animated musical based on those creepy Troll dolls.

Weekend Box Office Report: ‘The Perfect Guy’ and ‘The Visit’ Come Out Swinging
After September opened with a whimper, we were prepared for a dull couple of weeks. It looks like we shouldn’t have been so quick to judge. The one-two punch of The Perfect Guy and The Visit have suddenly made the least interesting month of the year interesting, opening big and opening close enough to one another to make for an interesting race. In the slower movie months, weekends like these are rare treats.

Weekend Box Office Report: ‘Straight Outta Compton’ Takes the Lead for the Third Weekend in a Row
All summer movie seasons end with a whimper and 2015 was no different. The final weekend of August was a pretty sad display across the board, with Straight Outta Compton nabbing the number one spot by default while just about every new release faltered. You know it’s a slow weekend when a movie promoted exclusively to faith-based audiences nabs the number two spot.

Weekend Box Office Report: ‘Straight Outta Compton’ Shuts Down All Newcomers
Straight Outta Compton dominated the box office for the second weekend in a row, ensuring that every other movie in the top 10 that doesn’t feature Tom Cruise trembled in its mighty wake. Anyone with their finger on the cultural pulse foresaw the N.W.A. biopic doing well, but it’s performing above and beyond all expectations.

Weekend Box Office Report: ‘Straight Outta Compton’ Dominates ‘The Man From U.N.C.L.E.’
Every time a movie about and for audiences who aren’t white and male does well, everyone acts like it’s a big surprise. “Black people and women like movies? Who’da thunk it?” It’s actually not surprising at all that Straight Outta Compton had a massive opening, handily defeating its more standard competition. Because all kinds of people like movies and when you make movies for all kinds of people, you end up with huge weekends at the box office.

Weekend Box Office Report: It’s Mission Accomplished For ‘Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation’
A few weeks ago, tracking for Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation was supposedly in the toilet. Early reports suggested that Tom Cruise’s fifth outing as super-spy Ethan Hunt was not getting people excited. This would be the end, the experts said, of a franchise that has kept Cruise’s career surging forward for the past two decades. Well, that was apparently a big load of crap because Rogue Nation opened well and opened in the same ballpark as the rest of the franchise. Even with inflation differences, this series keeps on hitting the same box office sweet spot.

Weekend Box Office Report: ‘Pixels’ Can’t Catch ‘Ant-Man’
At the time of this writing, early estimates for the weekend box office have Ant-Man edging out Pixels for the top spot in this week’s top 10. That could change. With less than $1 million separating the films, Pixels may very well slide into first place tomorrow, winning one very close competition. But even if it does claim ultimate victory, it doesn’t change the fact that Pixels’ opening weekend is a massive disappointment and another nail in the coffin of Adam Sandler’s career.

Weekend Box Office Report: ‘Ant-Man’ Goes a Little Small With Its Big Opening
It would be easy to label the opening weekend for Ant-Man a failure. After all, it’s significantly lower than the openings for recent Marvel Studios movies and it’s a good $130 million less than the three-day opening Avengers: Age of Ultron had a few months ago. But let’s not be so hasty. Its opening numbers may not have blown anyone away, but Ant-Man’s box office arrival is textbook Marvel.

Weekend Box Office Report: ‘Minions’ Takes Over the World
Universal was already bathing in its Furious 7 and Jurassic World money Scrooge McDuck-style before Minions opened this week. Now the studio is looking at its third truly massive hit of the year, a run that feels nearly unprecedented. Universal already released two of the biggest movies of all time within the past four months, and now it’s looking like it may have three.

Weekend Box Office Report: ‘Terminator Genisys’ and ‘Magic Mike XXL’ Trail Last Week’s Champions
As expected, the Fourth of July holiday weekend saw a lot of people heading to the theater. Unfortunately for the new releases, those people gravitated toward films that have already been in theaters for a few weeks. Once again, Jurassic World and Inside Out dominated the top 10, leaving newcomers like Terminator Genisys and Magic Mike XXL out in the cold.

The ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ Sequel Will Be Titled ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2’
When Marvel announced a release date for Guardians of the Galaxy 2 before the first one was even released, everyone thought Marvel was overestimating their strange space opera. And then it made a bajillion dollars and everyone on the internet felt like a fool. Now, the title for that sequel has been revealed and while it doesn’t bring any grand revelation with it, it’ll probably get you to crack a tiny smile.

Weekend Box Office Report: ‘Inside Out’ and ‘Jurassic World’ Take Down ‘Ted 2’
When Universal scheduled Ted 2, they surely had no idea that Seth MacFarlane’s swearing teddy bear sequel would be squaring off against one of the biggest box office juggernauts of all time...a juggernaut that they themselves had created. So it’s not surprising that Jurassic World topped the box office again and it’s not surprising that Pixar’s Inside Out held onto second place. What is a little surprising is how low Ted 2 opened, falling significantly short of its predecessor’s opening weekend.