Jacob Hall
After months of feverish anticipation and a marketing campaign that left everyone at ScreenCrush practically speechless, 'Man of Steel' has arrived (amidst a flurry of mixed reviews) and taken its place at the top of the box office chart. Although the latest Superman film broke June box office records, it's yet to be seen whether or not the film is truly prepared for the long road ahead.
How rare is it for a Will Smith sci-fi blockbuster to not open at number one at the box office? Also, how horrible must it feel for a Will Smith sci-fi blockbuster to not only get beaten by the second week of a long running franchise about fast cars, but by a magician thriller headlined by Jesse Eisenberg?
What looked like one of the big box office showdowns of the summer turned out to not be battle at all. Not only did 'Fast and Furious 6' take the number one spot at the box office, it did it while shattering records, leaving 'The Hangover Part 3' coughing on its exhaust.
When is a $70 million opening not a success? When its predecessor opened to $75 million four years ago. This is the predicament facing 'Star Trek Into Darkness,' which opened at number one at box office while being something of a disappointment.
No one expected 'The Great Gatsby' to take number one at the box office over 'Iron Man 3' this weekend, but it did the next best thing: it opened huge at number two. There is no shame in this silver medal.
Since it's produced so quickly, SNL will never not take advantage of any holiday that arrives near its air date. That meant that last night's episode saw a handful of mom-themed sketches in honor of Mother's Day! The first of them was a great fake commercial for a flower delivery service starring the terrific Kristen Wiig. Check it out below.
Look, we all knew that 'Iron Man 3' was going to make a whole bunch of money and open at number one at the box office and kick the summer movie season off in style. The question was never "Is 'Iron Man 3' going to make any money?", the question was always "What absolutely absurd amount is 'Iron Man 3' going to make in its opening weekend?"
Some SNL hosts just feel like they were born to be on that stage and Zach Galifiankis is one of them. Rather than do a traditional monologue, he performed six minutes of his oddball, avant garde stand-up comedy. It was a great reminder that he may be a big movie star now, but he's still one of the great modern comedians.
Some will call this a slow weekend, but it may be better to think of it as the calm before the storm. Next week, the summer movie season begins and people are saving their pennies for 'Iron Man 3,' so it's not really surprising that this was an uneventful couple of days at the multiplex. At least the folks behind 'Pain and Gain' can be glad that their film led an otherwise quiet weekend.
Jonathan Winters, a titan of comedy on both the big and small screens, passed away at the age of 87.