Box Office: Venom, A Star is Born, and new records for Crazy Rich Asians

by Nathaniel R

What did you see over the weekend? Both Venom and A Star is Born opened to big numbers making it a strong start to October box office. While Venom isn't as likely to hold as well (lower Cinemascore, terrible reviews, and no awards season to maintain interest) both are already hits. More after the jump...

Weekend Box Office Estimates (October 5-7)
W I D E 800+ screens	PLATFORM / LIMITED excluding prev. wide
1. 🔺 Venom $80  *NEW*	1. 🔺 Free Solo $540k  on 41 screens (cum. $953k)

2. 🔺 A STAR IS BORN $41.2 *NEW* Review, Posterized	2. 🔺The Hate U Give $500k *NEW * on 36 screens

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YNMS x 3: Crazy Rich Asians, Venom, and Woman Walks Ahead

So many trailers hitting recently. So little time to Yes No Maybe So them all. So let's catch up with three of the newer ones after the jump: Crazy Rich Asians, Venom, and Woman Walks Ahead...

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The Glamorous Life of a Movie Star

by Jason Adams

That there is a shot of the actor Tom Hardy on the set of Venom, the forthcoming Spider-man spin-off starring him as Eddie Brock, the dude who gets taken over by a gooey tar-like alien symbiote (we already saw this happen to Topher Grace in the third Sam Raimi movie) and proceeds to go a lil' wacky. Tom Hardy does good wacky! There have been a few brief videos popping up on social media this week (see here) that involve Hardy flopping around on the pavement in twenty degree weather - what a weird life actors have!

Venom is being directed by Zombieland and Gangster Squad's Ruben Fleischer and he's managed to gather up quite the killer cast for his comic-book film - besides Hardy there's Riz Ahmed, Jenny Slate, Woody Harrelson, and Michelle Williams! Imagine these actors in a movie actually about something! There was a funny chat with Williams that popped up yesterday about the movie (which she can of course say nothing about yet because you know how these things roll) that just oozed with... enthusiasm? Sure, enthusiasm:

"I’ve done one other movie where I was asked to track a tennis ball with my eyes and pretend it was a giant creature thing. Not my favorite thing in the world to do, but it is a skill set and I’m trying to learn it."

I'll link you again in 25 years...

Cartoon Brew utterly savage (but 100% correct) on the Emoji Movie trailer
LA Review of Books on Netflix's Sense8 as metaphor for Netflix is. (I have no idea
why a book site is  reviewing this but the piece is absolutely terrific)
LA Times talks to Robin Swicord, only now with a second feature (Wakefield) long after the success of The Jane Austen Book Club. Her debut was profitable (always Hollywood's end goal) but Hollywood wouldn't hire her to direct? We've heard this story all too often!

Screen Daily in terrible terrible news they're still not going to let the once genius but totally played out Terminator franchise die and Arnold Schwarzenegger and James Cameron plan to be involved in the next one. Doesn't anyone in Hollywood want to do something original even more? It's not like Cameron couldn't get funding for literally ANYTHING he wanted to do. (sigh)
Film School Rejects on Disney's self cannabilization and the particular folly of trying it with Fantasia
Variety TV is invading Cannes with many auteurs now doing both
Vulture Tilda Swinton and Steven Yeun on making art in the new impossible-to-avoid-politics era
AV Club Janelle Monáe and Leslie Mann are joining Steve Carell in Robert Zemeckis's next film
MNPP Tom Hardy to play Spider-Man villain Venom in a standalone film
Jezebel the only reporting on the Roseanne revival which includes Luis Buñuel asides
Cinematic Corner visual parallels between Logan and Mad Max: Fury Road
Hugh Jackman 'see you soon Japan' - he's still on his Logan promo tour!
Out people are still shook about that shocking Drag Race elimination. (I rewatched it and it's astonishing how furious you can tell RuPaul is at Valentina for making her job so difficult)

Just For Fun
My Giant Nerd Boyfriend "Horror Movies" (I'm absolutely in love with this webcomic about this Asian girl with a super tall boyfriend)
Cards Against Humanity - cool story from the Emerald City comic con floor

Sage Advice
Daily Actor "18 Ways to Self-Tape Like a Pro" - smart ideas here about self-taped auditions (which are increasingly popular

Twin Peaks is here!
Twin Peaks Season 3 begins today so it's probably a good idea to reacquaint yourself with the previous two seasons and Fire Walk With Me. If you don't have time to rewatch them (*raises own hand in solidarity*) there are articles around to jog your memory. Unicorn Booty recaps where several storylines left off at the end of Season 2, and K Austin Allen of The Ringer takes a deep dive into the movie prequel that was honestly kind of reviled back in 1992 but has since grown rather beloved amongst Lynch fans and cinephiles. Perfect anecdotal evidence from my own life: my best friend who was an absolute Twin Peaks nut in the 90s and then hated Fire Walk With Me which we saw together in 1992. I saw him yesterday -- he had just rewatched it was like 'Have you ever watched Fire Walk With Me again? I remember hating it, somehow, but it's incredible!'