Jay-Z Blasts Glastonbury With Brit Pop
Between Amy Winehouse brawling with fans and Jay-Z rubbing a little Brit pop in the nose of the naysayers, Glastonbury was the place to be this weekend.
Yeah, we missed it, too.
No worries. The Internet has Jay-Z’s performance all cued upwith some salty language, folksso those of us who couldn’t head over for the good times can enjoy the show. Tell us what you think.
Incredible Hulk Smashes Past
Judged against Spider-Man, Hulk came up short. Judged against Hulk, The Incredible Hulk came up big. The franchise restart, starring Edward Norton, topped the weekend box office with $54.5 million, according to Exhibitor Relations estimates today. While that’s about $8 million less than what Ang Lee’s Hulk opened with in 2003, the gross is considered a victory for Universal Pictures, which had to overcome, well, Ang Lee’s Hulk.
“There were a lot of naysayers out there when we said we were doing this,” Nikki Rocco, Universal’s president of domestic distribution, said today. “The Hulk smashed those naysayers.”
M. Night Shyamalan also won at the expectations game. While his latest horror-thriller, The Happening, settled for the bronze with its third-place debut, its $30.5 million opening represented substantial improvement over the filmmaker’s 2006 disappointment, Lady in the Water.
Kung Fu Panda, meanwhile, stayed strong in its second weekend, hauling in another $34.3 million and finishing second.
It was, however, The Incredible Hulk that dominated, accounting for nearly one-third of all ticket sales for the weekend’s top movies.
The debut was bigger than recent superhero movies such as Batman Begins ($48.7 million), Superman Returns ($52.5 million) and Ghost Rider ($45.4 million), even though it was far smaller than that of the latest superhero hit, Iron Man, which scored $98.6 million over three days in May.
The most important stat of the weekend for The Incredible Hulk, however, may be the strong A-minus it received from weekend moviegoers, per Cinema Score polling. By comparison, Lee’s Hulk rated a less-enthusiastic B-minus.
The next most important stat will come with next weekend’s grosses.
In 2003, it wasn’t just that Hulk didn’t score a $100 million debut, à la Spider-Man the year before, it was that business dropped a stunning 70 percent in its second weekend.
Can The Incredible Hulk avoid a similar week-two plunge?
“Who knows? I’m confident,” Rocco said. “Because this movie delivers.”
Drilling down through the box-office standings:
- When Iron Man (seventh place, $5.1 million; $297.4 million overall) crosses $300 millionand it will shortlyit’ll join the three Spider-Man movies as the only superhero films to bash that barrier.
- Kung Fu Panda’s second weekend was one of the best in recent memory, retaining nearly 60 percent of its first weekend business. The CGI comedy has already grossed a total of $118 million.
- Sex and the City (sixth place, $10.2 million) continues to prove it was no short-lived phenomenon. Since its $57 million, bigger-than-The Incredible Hulk opening, the romantic comedy has tacked on $62 million over the last two weekends, bringing its cumulative total to $119.9 million.
- In its second weekend, Adam Sandler’s You Don’t Mess With the Zohan suffered the usual 50 percent dip, plus a little extra, falling to fourth place and a $16.4 million take ($68.8 million overall).
- In limited release, Mongol ($113,000 at five theaters; $135,326 overall) had another strong weekend, while the new indie horror-comedy Baghead did okay with $8,925 at two theaters.
- After a couple of big weekends, the movie business has nearly caught up to 2007, with overall ticket sales now off less than 1 percent from last year. Attendance lags nearly 4 percent.
Here’s a recap of the top-grossing weekend films based on Friday-Sunday estimates compiled by Exhibitor Relations:
1. The Incredible Hulk, $54.5 million2. Kung Fu Panda, $34.3 million3. The Happening, $30.5 million4. You Don’t Mess With the Zohan, $16.4 million5. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, $13.5 million6. Sex and the City, $10.2 million7. Iron Man, $5.1 million8. The Strangers, $4.1 million9. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, $3 million 10. What Happens in Vegas, $1.7 million
Jessica Simpson: Country Girl in the Big City
Jessica Simpson: Country Girl in the Big City
Following a late night arrival in the Big Apple, Jessica Simpson and her mother Tina were spotted up bright and early on Tuesday morning (June 10).
And the rising country starlet looked cute in a white top, black jacket and a pair of black short shorts as she exited her hotel.
Regarding her foray into country music, Jessica recently told press, “It’s a spiritual thing for me, like ‘I know God has a plan and a purpose.’ For the first time in my life, I take a lot of pride in my talent and in the record I was able to put together.”
She continued, “With the writers, I felt comfortable opening up, because the only way this opportunity was going to be a great one was to be honest with myself and with them. If I want to be singing it for the rest of my life onstage, I want it to be honest.”
As for her naysayers, Miss Simpson commented, “Maybe they thought that I was just trying to stomp on their ground for a little bit and see what I could do, and then just go back and make another pop record. But I’m planning on making country for the rest of my life, and I don’t want to go back to that other world.”
John Mayer Makes Time for Goonies…and Jen
Maybe we should just start calling him Chunk.
John Mayer, back in L.A. after performing in Hong Kong, reunited with love Jennifer Aniston over the weekend. But not before blogging on his site about The Goonies.
In the cryptic message, the “Gravity” singer waxes about how he is not like the jock character Troy in the ’80s flick, but instead compares himself to the nerdy kids who ultimately dish out the comeuppance, usually stealing a smoking hot girlfriend or two in the process.
“I’ve always fancied myself a Goonie; the underdog who toppled over the narrow-minded naysayers and walked away with a treasure.”
So, would “treasure” be a subtle reference to his new gal-pal? Well, it certainly would make sense, given the inseparable weekend the two had together.
The couple was first spotted Saturday night at the Beverly Hills Hotel, and sources tell News that, upon leaving at about 1 a.m., John drove Jen back to her Hollywood Hills home, where he apparently spent the night.
At about 11 a.m. Sunday morning, they got what appeared to be a brunch delivery and, according to a source, “were goofing around and laughing” on her balcony.
Later that afternoon, the two paid a visit to Jen’s best friend, Courteney Cox, at her Malibu mansion.
A bit of letdown for John, though, as there was no sign of Sloth or One-Eyed Willie.
Reporting by Ken Baker and Claudia Rosenbaum