The Meg's Box Office Bite. Plus Ant-Man 2 Crosses $200 Million

by Nathaniel R

Until we hear further details, everything will be viewed through the lens of our apocalyptic fears about Oscar's new "popular achievement" category. Does The Meg's huge opening weekend mean it'll be up for an Oscar? I mean it has been since Jaws that a giant shark movie was Oscar nominated, so if Oscar wants to remain "relevant" they should totally start recognizing MUTANT SHARK movies! Elsewhere in box office news, Spike Lee's BlacKkKlansman opened to great reviews, and much discussion, and is a total must-see "but since it didn't open big, I guess it's not as good as Slender Man and The Men so it doesn't deserve Oscar recognition, right?" he added sarcastically...

Weekend Box Office Estimates (August 10-12)
W I D E 800+ screens	PLATFORM / LIMITED excluding prev. wide
The Meg	Three Identical Strangers
1. 🔺THE MEG  $44.5 *NEW* REVIEW	1. THREE IDENTICAL STRANGERS $700K on 326 screens (cum. $9.6) REVIEW
2. MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - FALLOUT $20 (cum. $161.9)  REVIEW, PODCAST	2. 🔺THE ISLAND $282k on 40 screens *NEW*
3. CHRISTOPHER ROBIN $12.4 (cum. $50)  REVIEW	3. BLINDSPOTTING $220k on 138 screens (cum. $3.7)
4.🔺 SLENDER MAN $11.3 *NEW*  REVIEW	4. 🔺 PUZZLE $164k on 44 screens (cum. $447k)
5.🔺BLACKKKLANSMAN $10.7 *NEW* REVIEW	5. 🔺 MCQUEEN $154k on 53 screens (cum. $750k) REVIEW

Though it did very well for a Spike Lee joint, Spike Lee joints don't tend to set the box office on fire. So should he return that Honorary Oscar? I'M JUST FOLLOWING OSCAR'S LOGIC THROUGH, Y'ALL. I seriously can't stop being pissed about this "popular achievement." notion. To quote Don Draper...

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Say What? Natalie Portman in "Vox Lux"

Amuse us. Add a caption or dialogue to this first photo of Natalie Portman in Brady Corbet's Vox Lux. The movie is a 15 year long story of a young girl who survives a traumautic shooting and later becomes a pop sensation. Score by Scott Walker (Pola X!!!) and songs by Sia. Can't wait... though we might have to. No word on when it's coming out but it debuts in Venice next month. 

Posterized: Spike Lee

by Nathaniel R

Currently in love with this image of Spike Lee and Topher Grace on the set of BlacKkKlansman. But let's get to the point. After a long hiatus, we're back with a new season of our Friday series "Posterized"... I know it's Sunday. Shush. What better way to kick off than with the films of Honorary Oscar Winner Spike Lee? His latest joint, BlacKkKlansman, which we've reviewed, is new in theaters. We hope you'll go as it will surely prove to be one of 2018's defining films. But for now on to his filmography as a whole.

People often disagree on what his best work is aside from Do The Right Thing (1989), his consensus masterpiece. That's probably because he's a natural risk taker so naturally his output is uneven.  For the purposes of this exercize we had to limit it to traditional features because Spike Lee has always done everything: short films, commercials, music videos, tv movies, miniseries, documentaries, segments within movies, filmed stage shows. The two most acclaimed pieces not included below are his Emmy-winning docuseries When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts (2006) for HBO and his Oscar-nominated documentary4 Little Girls (1997). How many of his joints have you seen? All the posters are after the jump...

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Linking With Yourself

Vulture A fine appreciation of Jonathan Demme's stellar crime comedy Married to the Mob
Deadline Hilary Swank to play a "seductive female police detective" in a new film called Fatale.  Hmmm, not sure this is in her range. Remember Black Dahlia?
Slate What's fact and what's fiction in BlacKkKlansman?
AV Club Chris Pine and Chris Hemsworth are playing hardball with Paramount over their Star Trek paychecks

Awards Daily Sasha has quite a different take on the Oscar's new decision to include some kind of "popular achievement" award. (One thing I think we can all agree on: since we actually know nothing about the Academy's plans with their extremely vague announcement, it's really hard to say anything about what it might be or look like or mean.
Salon Casey Affleck breaks his silence on his behavior on the set of I'm Still Here
Boy Culture Cher's ABBA album now available for pre-orders
/Film Japanese film Mirai getting a US release from GKids in the fall. Oscar possibility?
Gothamist oh dear. Sean Young is in trouble again. The Blade Runner actress is wanted for questioning about a burglarly in Queens.
Coming Soon Paul Rudd to co-star with himself in philosophical Netflix comedy Living With Yourself
Coming Soon Ava DuVernay has cast her Central Park Five. It's mostly unknowns but Jharrel Jerome (Moonlight) and Jovan Adepo (Fences) are in there, too. 

Showbiz History: Norma, Viola, and Two Sexy Guys Named "Chris"

10 random things that happened on this day in history (Aug 11th)

1902 Norma Shearer is born in Montreal. Or was she? IMDb lists her date as August 10th but most sources say August 11th. There were previous disputes about the year, too -- 1900, 1902, 1904? But most sources seem to have settled on 1902. Regardless she was a huge star in the 1920s and 1930s. We love her here at TFE even if nobody else does.

1937 The Life of Emile Zola premieres. It goes on to win Best Picture and oh my god y'all...  J'accuse that one of being a giant slog! Seriously it's unending. They had so many better choices that year including one of the all time best screwballs The Awful Truth (Sigh)...

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