Month: May 2022

Top Gun: Maverick holds the distinction of the best Memorial Day opening weekend of all time with projected three-day domestic earnings of $126.7 million, and $156 million for the four days. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End was the previous record holder with $153 million.

Top Gun: Maverick’s opening weekend is the best for Tom Cruise, and is the first time he has had a film open to $100 million or more. The film debuted on Friday with earnings of $51.8 million, opening in more than 4,700 theaters in North America. Overseas, the film opened to $124 million from 62 markets, earning $248 million through Sunday and more than $280 million through Monday.

Directed by Joseph Kosinski, Top Gun: Maverick sees Cruise return as Capt. Pete “Maverick” Mitchell.  The film co-stars Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Glen Powell and Ed Harris, while Val Kilmer also makes a brief appearance as “Iceman,” Maverick’s onetime nemesis-turned-friend.

More than 70 percent of Top Gun 2‘s audience was over the age of 25, including 55 percent over age 35, and ticket buyers gave the film with an A+ CinemaScore.  The release of the long-awaited sequel to the iconic 1986 movie was delayed for two years due to the coronavirus pandemic. Cruise went on a global marketing tour in recent weeks, making stops at a world premiere in San Diego, the Cannes Film Festival, a Royal-sponsored screening in London and another premiere in Japan.

Editorial credit: Cubankite / Shutterstock.com

Johnny Depp marked the end of his highly publicized seven-week defamation trial against ex-wife Amber Heard with a surprise appearance at a Jeff Beck concert at Sheffield City Hall in England on Sunday. The venue tweeted Monday: “Well … what a surprise we got last night when Johnny Depp joined ⁦@jeffbeckmusic⁩ on stage. Wishing @jeffbeckmusic⁩ good luck for the rest of his amazing tour and a big thank you to Johnny Depp for joining us!”

Numerous outlets and social media posts report that Depp and Beck performed together on a few covers, including Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Goin’ On” and John Lennon’s “Isolation.” Before becoming an actor, Depp had wanted to be a musician, and even testified at his recent trial about his early musical aspirations on the stand. Depp, along with musicians Alice Cooper and Joe Perry, formed the supergroup Hollywood Vampires in 2012

Depp and Heard have been in district court in Fairfax, Virginia since April 11. Depp is suing Heard for $50 million in damages over an op-ed she wrote that was published in The Washington Post in 2018, while she is countersuing him for $100 million.  The case went to the jury who began deliberation on Friday.

Watch videos of Depp performing with Beck on YouTube: – here.

Editorial credit: Andre Luiz Moreira / Shutterstock.com

Warner Brothers has released its second official trailer for Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis, starring Austin Butler as the ‘King of Rock & Roll.’

The trailer opens with a voiceover, saying “Our country itself is sick, and it’s lost its sense of direction – even its common decency” — referring to the reaction to Presley and his dance moves. Butler as Presley is then seen wiggling his pinky, as the camera pans to Tom Hanks’ character Tom Parker, Elvis’ manager. “In that moment Elvis the man was sacrificed and Elvis the God was born.”  The trailer also gives a look at the rise of Presley’s career and the conflicts he faced throughout his life, especially the impact of his mother Gladys.

The trailer also shares a sample of the film’s soundtrack, including Doja Cat’s “Vegas.” Along with featuring some of Presley’s biggest hits, the movie will also include original songs and recordings by the likes of Eminem, CeeLo Green, Swae Lee, Denzel Curry, Jack White, Kacey Musgraves, Diplo, Tame Impala, and Maneskin.

Elvis premieres in theaters on June 24. Take a look at the trailer – here.

Editorial credit: Ovidiu Hrubaru / Shutterstock.com

Actor Ray Liotta, perhaps best known for his breakout role in the 1990 Martin Scorsese classic ‘Goodfellas’, has died. The Emmy Award winning actor was 67. Liotta died in his sleep in the Dominican Republic, where he was shooting the film Dangerous Waters.  He was engaged to fiancée Jacy Nittolo, and he was dad to daughter Karsen, 23, with ex-wife Michelle Grace. Sources say no foul play is suspected in his death, and that Nittolo was with him when he passed. Liotta revealed his engagement to Nittolo, a mom of four, on Christmas in 2020, writing on Instagram, “Christmas wishes do come true. I asked the love of my life to marry me, and thank God she said yes!!!”

Some of Liotta’s best known roles were in the Jonathan Demme-directed Something Wild (1987) for which he received a Golden Globe nomination. He also portrayed Chicago White Sox player Shoeless Joe Jackson opposite Kevin Costner and James Earl Jones in 1989’s Field of Dreams. Liotta won a Primetime Emmy in 2005 for his guest stint on ER and was a two-time SAG Award nominee for the 2015 miniseries Texas Rising and the 1998 telefilm The Rat Pack. 

Liotta’s career was under a resurgence; he recently appeared in the Sopranos prequel movie The Many Saints of Newark, the Amazon Prime series Hanna, and also appeared in Marriage Story — for which he shared a 2020 Indie Spirit Award for its ensemble cast.  He just completed a role in the Elizabeth Banks-directed Cocaine Bear, and was due to star in the The Substance (working title) opposite Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley. Liotta was also set to executive produce the A&E docuseries Five Families, about the rise and fall of the New York’s mafia’s Genovese, Gambino, Bonnano, Colombo and Lucchese families.

Ray Liotta Dead: ‘Goodfellas’ Actor Dies at Age 67

Editorial credit: Kathy Hutchins / Shutterstock.com