Link Tank: The Invitation Ends the Summer Box Office with a Whimper
The summer box office fizzles out, Ezra Miller talks to Warner Bros. about the future of The Flash, Neil Gaiman opens up about past The Sandman attempts, and more in Link Tank!
Unlike last year, which saw the summer’s highest-grossing movie (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings) come out right before Labor Day, this year’s domestic summer box office is going out with a whimper with The Invitation “winning” the weekend with just over $7 million.
“Expectations for this weekend were low, but it still feels like a disappointment as it dropped 34% from last weekend and became the year’s third lowest grossing at the box office. Despite three wide releases, the overall box office dropped to $52.1 million, making this the worst weekend since January and the first weekend since May 2021 where no film grossed over $10 million. The newcomers failed to spark and the top film from last weekend took a massive plunge in the final weekend of August, and while the month outperformed August 2021 (which had a $418 million cume compared to this month’s $451 million with still a few days to go), September may bring us to box-office lows we haven’t seen since the late May 2021 summer kickoff.”
The Flash star Ezra Miller has found themselves under a lot of heat recently, leaving many fans wondering if the performer’s solo superhero flick would ever hit the big screen. While that is still up in the air, Ezra has reportedly met with Warner Bros. to discuss the future of the Scarlett Speedster in the DCEU.
“In light of Ezra Miller‘s recent arrests and controversies in the past few years, the non-binary actor who is the lead in The Flash, recently met with Warner Bros. leadership to discuss the future of the film. Just earlier this month, Miller released a public apology to fans and has reassured that they will be committed to doing whatever is necessary to deal with their mental health issues.”
The Sandman creator Neil Gaiman reflects on the past attempts to bring his iconic characters to life, including a script he said was the worst he’d ever been sent.
“Many consider Netflix’s The Sandman to be one of the best adaptations of creator Neil Gaiman’s work. A combination of creative freedom, a large budget, strong visual effects, and good timing went into making the lavish fantasy series such a success, and the series has topped streaming charts across the globe. But of course, the path to The Sandman is littered with attempted adaptations that never quite hit the mark. In a new interview with Rolling Stone, Gaiman reflected on the long journey The Sandman has taken to the screen.”
The movies of the 1980s were filled with wacky side characters, and here are some of the best that deserve their own spin-off stories.
“Movies are made by the quality of their supporting characters. Oh sure, the leads are the people that drive the story, but if they don’t have quirky best friends to bounce off, what’s the point? And if the characters who appear in only a scene or two are equally as memorable? That’s even better.”
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power drops this week on Amazon Prime Video, and we’re a little confused as to what the plot of this epic fantasy series actually is.
“Since it was announced in 2017, Prime Video’s The Lord of The Rings has been a real conundrum. A $1 billion Lord Of The Rings without Frodo, Gollum, or Bill the Pony? And there won’t be any Shire, the plans for Helm’s Deep are years from being drafted, and meat will definitely not be on the menu, boys. Amazon’s tricksy, isn’t she, precious?”
The Muppets legend Kermit the Frog is swinging around the city as Spider-Man in a recent mod of the PC game.
“The main reason Sony put Spider-Man on PC was to make money. However, the main reason PC gamers were so excited about it—apart from the fact it remains very good!—was because it would let them mod a PlayStation game to hell and back. We’ve written a story about the game’s mods already, but the last one was a bummer, so today we’re here for something a bit more light-hearted: a mod that turns the in-game model of Spider-Man into Kermit the Frog.”
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