Links: Lynskey, Castillo, Cho, and Missing 80s Movies

• THR a reporter on the next tense moments at Netflix as they try to make their original movies more culturally impactful to continue to lure filmmakers. Roma and The Irishman are going to be crucial to their plans
• Awards Daily Melanie Lynskey talks about her work on Castle Rock
• EW high powered producer Craig Zadan, who brought lots of musicals to the screen and also produced the Oscars, died unexpectedly at just 69. Hollywood is paying tribute.
• Playbill cast announced for the Broadway aimed Beetlejuice musical. Includes Kerry Butler in the Geena Davis role!

• ScriptNotes a great discussion about the new silent-movie like loss of old movies (particularly from the 70s and 80s) in the streaming era. It springs from this article...
• BlackList "In search of the last great video store" - the writer had a craving for Fresh Horses starring Molly Ringwald and couldn't find it. (We've been there MANY times)
• Filmmaker Raúl Castillo talks about his career from his theater roots, through Looking, and on to We the Animals
• Variety Aretha Franklin apparently didn't leave a will before she died
• Coming Soon Crazy Rich Asians sequel is moving forward. That's great news for Gemma Chan and Harry Shum Jr who feature prominently in the book's sequel
• My New Plaid Pants John Cho seven times
• The AV Club Hulu wants to revive Veronica Mars
• Vulture looks into the climactic mahjong showdown in Crazy Rich Asians

Scarlett's Black Widow Dough and 2018's Highest Paid Actresses

I always find Forbes annual list of highest paid actresses suspect because when you dig into it you realize the huge sums aren't necessarily for acting but for being spokespersons for various products or fashion houses. Of course that requires the celebrity that comes from acting hence the fusion of commerce and art. With some mainstays of the list, like Jennifer Aniston who is on it every year, the money is largely for commercials with the films being commercials for her celebrity to keep the commercial endorsement business going. With others the money is largely the frequent hit films (Melissa McCarthy). Franchises definitely help: Cate Blanchett and Scarlett Johansson both made Marvel money this past year, Angelina Jolie's big number is her upfront pay for Maleficent 2, and Gal Gadot's is her sudden cash-in on her new celebrity from helping to make Wonder Woman such a massive global hit in 2017. 

The 2018 list goes like so...

1. Scarlett Johansson $40.5 million
2. Angelina Jolie $28 million
3. Jennifer Aniston $19.5 million
4. Jennifer Lawrence $18 million
5. Reese Witherspoon $16.5 million
6. Mila Kunis $16 million
7. Julia Roberts $13 million
8. Cate Blanchett $12.5 million
9. Melissa McCarthy $12 million
10. Gal Gadot $10 million (first time on the list)

On the list last year but didn't manage it this time: Emma Watson, Emma Stone, Amy Adams, and Charlize Theron.

If you controlled the world which 10 actresses would be showered with money for 2018?

Mission Accomplished: Ranking the Mission Impossible Series

By Spencer Coile 

Anytime the latest entry in an action movie franchise is released, it is celebrated as 'the best' in the series. No film series has better exemplified this than the Mission Impossible franchise. What makes this series particularly special is that it set the standard for filmed reboots of classic television shows. It may not have been the first, but it certainly is the most consistent. Perhaps most importantly, it knows when to take a break. 

The release of Mission: Impossible – Fallout is a clever reminder in the age of comic book adaptations arriving every month that Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) will always be there to save the day. But how exactly has the series evolved over time? And is Fallout actually the best in the series thus far?

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Box Office Possible - Fallout

by Nathaniel R

The Mission Impossible franchise (in movie form at least) is 22 years old and just won't quit (and neither will Tom Cruise) having its best opening weekend yet with film #6, Fallout. It's also Cruise's second biggest opening weekend ever after only War of the Worlds (2005). My personal favorite of the M:I franchise is Ghost Protocol from 2011. Yours? 

Weekend Box Office Estimates (July 27th-29th)
W I D E 800+ screens	L I M I T E D excluding prev. wide
Mission: Impossible - Fallout	Blindspotting
1.🔺 MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - FALLOUT  $61.5 *NEW* REVIEW	1. 🔺 BLINDSPOTTING $1.3 on 523 screens (cum. $1.7)
2. MAMMA MIA! HERE WE GO AGAIN $15 (cum. $70.4) REVIEW	2. 🔺 EIGHTH GRADE  $1.3 on 158 screens (cum. $2.9) CAPSULE REVIEW
3. THE EQUALIZER 2 $14 (cum. $64.2)	3.  🔺THREE IDENTICAL STRANGERS $1.2 on 433 screens (cum. $6.7) REVIEW
4. HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA 3 $12.3 (cum. $119.2)	4.  LEAVE NO TRACE $499k on 289 screens (cum. $4.6) TRAILER DISCUSSION
5. 🔺 TEEN TITANS GO! TO THE MOVIES $10.5 *NEW*	5. 🔺 DON'T WORRY HE WON'T GET FAR ON FOOT $351k on 266 screens (cum. $860k)

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Review Catch-up: Eighth Grade, Ant-Man and the Wasp, etc...

by Nathaniel R

A few recent major pictures we didn't post full reviews on. Oops. Let's take them in order of preference...

Eighth Grade (Bo Burnham)
Synopsis: A slice of life in middle school as an introverted teenager with an unwatched YouTube channel tries to survive eighth grade. 
Capsule: Such is the miracle of this movie that I felt pangs of recognition all throughout it even though I am basically the dad's age and not the daughter's, and also not a parent. I went to middle school a million years ago and so much about life as a teenager has changed radically since then. We didn't have social media, cel phones, and gun drills when I was a teenager...

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