Weekend Box Office: (Studio) Movies are Back!

By Ben Miller

For the seventh straight week, a new film at the box office is the new number one.  There was little doubt The Super Mario Bros. Movie would dominate, but I don't think anyone saw how much it would make.  The Nintendo/Illumination film make a whopping $166 million over the long Easter weekend.  That's good for the third-best Easter weekend opening ever behind Furious 7 and Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice.  Elsewhere, the numbers two, three, and four film were all real close with John Wick: Chapter 4, Ben Affleck's Air, and Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves around $15-16 million.  Those are some pretty solid numbers for counterprogramming to the kid-centric Mario.  (Big-budget, studio) Movies are back, baby!

Weekend Box Office (actuals) April 7th-10th 🔺 = new or expanding /  ★ = Recommended
WIDE (Over 800 Screens)	LIMITED / PLATFORM
THE SUPER MARIO BROS. MOVIE	HOW TO BLOW UP A PIPELINE
1 🔺 THE SUPER MARIO BROS. MOVIE $166.4 (cum. $224.7) 4,343 screens	1 🔺 LA USURPADORA: THE MUSICAL $128k *NEW* 313 screens

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Michelle Yeoh for Meihodo

by Nathaniel R

Some people never sleep. Michelle Yeoh, recently Oscar crowned, must surely be one of them. The jetsetting movie star works on mutiple tv shows and movies each year and still has time for extra-curriculars. The latest is the Guest of Honor gig later this month in Japan (date TBA) at the fifth annual Meihodo Youth Visual Media Festival. The annual festival gives out medals as well as cash funding in three short film categories: Narrative, Documentary, and Music Video.

The press release is after the jump...

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TV: "Succession" Course-Corrects With Third Episode of Final Season

By Christopher James

Some episodes of TV are above and beyond the show’s they’re housed in. Season four, episode three of Succession raised an already strong show to new heights. A twist early enough in the episode sets the final season in a new direction and gives Emmy-ready tapes for its crew of actors.

In full honesty, I was working on an article about Succession jumping the shark. A once dynamic series which captivated audiences and critics was just spinning its wheels tossing business jargon and curses into an incomprehensible word salad. Much of season three featured the Roy clan rehashing more of the same. However, episode three of the new season is flooring. 

SPOILERS TO IMMEDIATELY FOLLOW...

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Programming Note - April

Did you have a good Easter weekend? Apologies that this weekend contained no "reader's choice" so we're pushed back one week in that regard. So we thought it time to share some things coming up to help keep us on track...

April 10th - Succession Season Four Review
April 12th - Antiviral (2013) 10th anniversary
April 13th - Cannes Lineup Announced
April 14th - Reader's Choice: Marnie (1964) on Netflix
April 17th - Monday's Stage Door series returns as the Broadway season heats up and Tony buzz rises
April 21st - Reader's Choice: Fatal Attraction (1987) 
April 28th - Reader's Choice: TBA
April 28th - Letters from an Unknown Woman (1947) 75th anniversary

Also this month: April Foolish Oscar Predictions, Interview with Joyland director Saim Saddiq, Interview with rising cinematography star Carolina Costa (Fancy Dance, Heroic), the Year in Queer Cinema thus far, Erotic Thrillers on Criterion Channel continues, Love & Death on HBO Max, Polite Society at the movies, the Evil Dead franchise, and more... 

Erotic Thrillers: Part 2 – "Body Double" is one sleazy masterstroke!

by Cláudio Alves

Our voyage through the Criterion Channel's Erotic Thrillers collection continues. Only this time, only one movie. Mind you, that wasn't the initial design, but plans were thwarted when confronted with what's bound to become a new favorite – Brian De Palma's 1984 Hitchcock homage sui generis, Body Double. The thing demanded full attention, a drill held low and ready to fuck to death whoever dared to ignore its call. So, it's time to kill morality where it stands, bury good taste while you're at it, and surrender to the wild ride. Let's go down the rabbit hole into Vioporn wonderland…

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