Dragon’s Dogma 2 currently has everyone talking, and we’ve got our own thoughts on the game’s highs and lows. We’re also cautiously optimistic for the future of Destiny 2 and have opinions on a few of this week’s gaming-related April Fools’ Day shenanigans. Read on for more.
As everyone expected, Godzilla x Kong is stomping all over the competition this weekend. Deadline reports that the WB/Legendary MonsterVerse sequel is on track for a better-than-expected $30 million haul. Industry estimates (and ours) saw the film making $25 million, but word-of-mouth has proven stronger than expected, with the movie again beating expectations. Could a $200 million domestic finish be in sight for this? It’s possible, and certainly, the MonsterVerse, which has always been a bigger draw overseas, has proven to be a serious moneymaker for the studio in North America.
However, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire’s good fortune means the weekend’s other two new releases, Monkey Man and The First Omen, are opening softer than expected. Dev Patel’s passion project, Monkey Man, should make in the $10 million-ish range, which is a decent number considering Universal bought the rights from Netflix for $10 million. When all is said and done, the film will likely be a decent money-maker for the studio, especially once it hits home media.
The outlook is less rosy for The First Omen, which seems stuck with an unholy $8 million finish. Considering the Disney marketing muscle behind it and the decent reviews, that’s a pretty modest opening. Word has it this Omen prequel was originally designed as a streaming film, and certainly, that’s going to be where the film winds up seen the most. We quite liked it here on JoBlo, and you can check out where it falls in our Omen movie rankings right here.
While it’s possible either Monkey Man or The First Omen could end the weekend on a better note, it seems likely neither will be able to put up much of a fight next to Godzilla and Kong’s star power.
Did you see either movie this weekend? Let us know what you think in the comments!
The post Godzilla x Kong stomps over The First Omen & Monkey Man at the early box office appeared first on JoBlo.
For years, Awesome Art We’ve Found Around The Net has been about two things only – awesome art and the artists that create it. With that in mind, we thought why not take the first week of the month to showcase these awesome artists even more? Welcome to “Awesome Artist We’ve Found Around The Net.” In this column, we are focusing on one artist and the awesome art that they create, whether they be amateur, up-and-coming, or well-established. The goal is to uncover these artists so even more people become familiar with them. We ask these artists a few questions to see their origins, influences, and more. If you are an awesome artist or know someone that should be featured, feel free to contact me at any time at theodorebond@joblo.com.This month we are very pleased to bring you the awesome art of…
Julien Rico
Julien Rico (aka Rico Jr) is a French graphic designer, illustrator and poster artist who creates striking minimalist posters and illustrations for independent, creative agencies and studios such as Disney, Marvel, Netflix, Lionsgate and more.
JOBLO: What got you started as an artist?
RICO JR.: I have been drawing for as long as I can remember, with a love and passion for pop culture, cinema and comics.
Who were some of your favorite artists growing up?
Albert Uderzo (astérix), Steve Ditko (Spider-Man) and Drew Struzan (Star Wars)
Who do you really dig these days, follow on Instagram?
Doaly, Orlando Arocena and Jim Lee
What advice would you have for budding artists today?
Create to tell something very personal, on subjects that are really close to your heart. Draw what you want to see not what others expect you to do.
What should we be looking out for from you in the future?
To keep creating official projects for my childhood and nowadays favorite franchises, while surprising myself and the audience.
Being a fansite, we have to ask you… What are some of your favorite movies/TV shows of all time?
Back to the future, Robocop, Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man and Man of Steel.
Scroll down to check out some of our favorite art pieces from Rico Jr. as we continue to follow his journey across his Website and social media hubs: Instagram / X / Facebook / Linkedin / Behance / Store
Alien
Asterix & Obelix The Middle Kingdom
Batman
The Boy And The Heron
Christopher Nolan
Darth Vader
Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness
Guillermo Del Toro
IT
John Wick Chapter 4
Kong: Skull Island
The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom
The Mask
Obi-Wan Kenobi
One Piece
Oppenheimer
Overlord
Prey
Robocop
Spider-Man: The Animated Series
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Top Gun: Maverick
The X-Men
The post Awesome Artist We’ve Found Around The Net: Julien Rico appeared first on JoBlo.
Damien Thorn is the antichrist, and the trilogy that tells his unholy tale remains popular almost fifty years later. Indeed, while putting together this Omen movie ranked list and revisiting the original franchise, I was surprised at how well the old movies held up. Omen fans will be happy that the series has been restarted in a pretty interesting way this weekend, with The First Omen a surprisingly excellent prequel to the original trilogy (check out our interviews with the director and cast here), even if it takes one large liberty involving Damien’s birth that some fans may have an issue with. So, how do the Omen films rank against each other? Let’s take a look, but remember that the Fox TV movie, Omen IV: The Awakening, is not included, as I’m sticking with feature films.
There’s honestly no reason for this movie to exist. It’s a scene-for-scene remake of Richard Donner’s original classic, with it being so faithful that the original screenwriter, David Seltzer, has sole screenplay credit. Despite a decent cast, you can tell the difference between an old pro like Donner and a guy like John Moore, who gets outclassed in his attempt to bring the original film up to date. This remake is without any real merit, with it losing the Jerry Goldsmith score and the slew of great performances delivered in the original. Liev Schreiber and Julia Stiles do their best but are too young to play their parts and lack any sense of gravitas. Overall, this movie is a giant waste of time, which is why it’s at the bottom of my Omen movies ranked list.
I should make an important distinction here. I only consider one of the Omen movies bad: the 2006 remake. All of the others are at various levels of good. Omen III is probably the silliest Omen movie, but it also boasts an intense performance by Sam Neill as the now-grown Damien. Neill was a rising star at the time, making Zulawski’s classic Possession the same year. Young, charismatic and good-looking, you buy him as the son of the devil. But, it has two problems. One is that adult Damien will never be as scary as child Damien. The other is that they decided this would be the end of the franchise, and they opted to end it on a happy note rather than the foreboding conclusions of its predecessors. It also comes up short in the gore department, with no signature kills like in the other movies.
I was wary of a prequel to The Omen, having been burned by the remake. Yet, despite everything, I enjoyed Arkasha Stevenson’s prequel to Richard Donner’s original film, which is primarily faithful. The only issue is that they changed an essential detail about Damien’s conception at the end in order to this into a new series. But the change they made is pretty disturbing in its own right so that I can forgive it. I was also taken with Nell Tiger Free’s performance in the lead, with her a star on the rise. The early box office numbers are a bit soft, which is too bad, as I’d like to see this franchise continue.
No one will ever say that The Omen II lives up to the original, but you must hand it to director Don Taylor. Despite being little more than a journeyman, he made a pretty bold sequel, with a couple of gory kills that almost outdo the original. The guy getting chopped in half in the elevator (Meshach Taylor – who would play Jazz in Mannequin) is pretty gnarly, and the drowning of Lew Ayres under the ice of a frozen lake is disturbing. The legend is that the movie’s star, William Holden, was the original choice for the first film, but he turned it down and regretted it when the movie became a hit (Gregory Peck also had a percentage of the box office and made a killing). He was a contemporary of Peck’s, but by this point, alcoholism had begun to take its toll, and his decent performance doesn’t compare to Peck’s. Still, it has a young Lance Henriksen in an early role, and Jonathan Scott-Taylor delivers a good performance as a believably conflicted Damien.
If you’re making a list ranking The Omen films, only one could ever top the list. granddaddy of them all. At the time, the film was critically maligned, with many calling it little more than a rip-off of The Exorcist, but time has proven the naysayers wrong. Richard Donner made a smash hit but adopted a classy, realistic style and cast it perfectly. People nowadays may not realize how provocatively cast Gregory Peck was, as he was perhaps the most beloved actor in Hollywood at the time. After all, he was Atticus Finch! Men of his stature didn’t make horror films, and the film benefits from his fantastic performance. I have always liked that he and Lee Remick portray an older couple who are getting their last shot at being parents, making their disbelief at the fact that their presumed son is evil and being all the more potent. Plus, there’s David Warner, Leo McKern, the amazing Billie Whitelaw, and some unique kills. Damien! It’s all for you!
Do you agree with my Omen movies ranked list? Let me know in the comments!
The post The Omen Movies Ranked: From the Worst to the Best appeared first on JoBlo.
Dwayne Johnson has dropped the People’s Elbow on cancel culture, suggesting it has only served to rob people of their creativity and ingenuity.
In a sitdown with Fox News (via Variety), Dwayne Johnson made his point about wokeness in America, saying, “Today’s cancel culture, woke culture, division, etc — that really bugs me…In the spirit of that, you either succumb to that and be what other people want you to be, or you be yourself and be real … and that might make people upset and piss people off, and that’s OK.” Johnson might have a point here, as we have seen cancel culture do its part to claim not just those who deserve to be canceled but also those who maybe said something that sensitive parties found offensive, thus launching a campaign to ruin their careers. From this, there is a certain level of tiptoeing in the arts to not “piss people off”, thus stifling creativity.
Dwayne Johnson himself hasn’t been afraid to piss anybody off as of late, steering the WWE in a new direction and helping blur the line between reality and kayfabe. Johnson generated not only hype but some controversy over his return when it seemed as if he would be facing Roman Reigns at Wrestlemania XL, despite Cody Rhodes having won the Royal Rumble and thus a rightful shot at Reign’s title. After some apparent shifting of storylines – and bloodlines – the changeup has resulted in not only a unique return for The Rock, but some of the best storytelling the WWE has had in years.
Instead, Dwayne Johnson will return to the squared circle this weekend for night one of Wrestlemania XL in Philadelphia, a huge moment considering he hasn’t had a match since Wrestlemania 32 (if you even want to include it on the list, since it was a six-second squash; and before that his last Mania match was at 29). The night one main event will see him – under his in-ring name The Rock – teaming up with Reigns to take on Rhodes and Seth “Freakin” Rollins, with the outcome determining the stipulation for night two’s main event between Reigns and Rhodes.
Do you agree with Dwayne Johnson about cancel culture? Give us your thoughts in the comments section below.
The post Dwayne Johnson lays the smackdown on cancel culture appeared first on JoBlo.
April Fools’ is always a weird time for news, because it’s hard for us to discern the real from the fake. There were quite a few game-related April Fools’ jokes this year, but there was also a lovely, real bit of Hollow Knight Silksong news to balance everything out. Plus, this week had streamers getting banned from…
April Fools’ is always a weird time for news, because it’s hard for us to discern the real from the fake. There were quite a few game-related April Fools’ jokes this year, but there was also a lovely, real bit of Hollow Knight Silksong news to balance everything out. Plus, this week had streamers getting banned from…
A24 took to X today to tease that the first trailer for MaXXXine, the much-anticipated sequel to X and Pearl, will drop on Monday. I can’t wait!
The third movie picks up with Maxine (Mia Goth) as she “continues her journey towards fame, setting out to make it as an actress in 1980s Los Angeles.” In addition to Goth, MaXXXine boasts a cast which includes Elizabeth Debicki, Michelle Monaghan, Bobby Cannavale, Lily Collins, Halsey, Moses Summney, Giancarlo Esposito, and Kevin Bacon.
There have been rumblings that the sequel is a “good old whodunit slasher,” but Goth has teased that she views MaXXXine more as a superhero movie. “That’s how I read the script,” Goth said. “Maxine, as a character, has come a long way. She’s a survivor, she’s gone through a lot. When we meet her again, in this new world that she’s in, she’s really fought for everything that she has, and she’s not about to give that up. She’s going to fight for what she has. She’s a badass. There’s a strength to her. And she’s a really proactive, determined, focused woman. She goes after what she wants, and she’s not really going to take no for an answer.“
Should MaXXXine prove to be a success, could the franchise continue? Director Ti West isn’t ruling anything out, but he won’t say one way or another until the sequel has been released. “Maybe. I don’t know,” West said earlier this year. “There is this one weird asterisk idea that I have that is kind of… If I explained it, it would make sense. But we’ll see what happens. Let’s get this movie done first, see how people like it, we’ll go from there.“
After being blown away by X and Pearl, it’s safe to say that fans have been eagerly awaiting the release of MaXXXine, so be sure to check back on Monday when the trailer drops. The film is slated to be released in theaters on July 5th.
The post MaXXXine: A24 will release the first trailer on Monday appeared first on JoBlo.
Has Dr. Ben Song (Raymond Lee) made his final leap? It would appear so, as Deadline has reported that NBC has canceled Quantum Leap after two seasons. The series had been on the bubble, so the news isn’t a complete surprise, but it’s sure to be disappointing for fans.
The follow-up to the original series takes place nearly 30 years since Dr. Sam Beckett stepped into the Quantum Leap accelerator and vanished. Now, a new team, led by physicist Ben Song (Lee), has been assembled to restart the project. Everything changes, however, when Ben makes an unauthorized leap into the past, leaving the team behind to solve the mystery of why he did it. The second season finale aired on February 20th. While it wasn’t written to be a series finale, Quantum Leap showrunners Martin Gero and Dean Georgaris hoped it could provide some closure while also setting the stage for new stories.
“When we got the early renewal for Season 2, we knew we were not going to end it on a cliffhanger,” Georgaris told Deadline in February. “We were going to end it on the first scene from Season 3, and we’re going to end it with the two characters together, but in a way that you never expected. And that sort of says to the audience, ‘look at all the great places we can go.’ So if it feels like a completion for audiences, that’s wonderful. It is a completion of part of the journey, but I think for us, it serves as the launch for the rest of the journey.“
With Quantum Leap now canceled, I guess we can kiss goodbye to the possibility of seeing Scott Bakula reprise his role as Sam Beckett. The chances of that happening were slim, but you never know. The actor did say he was approached about making an appearance in the pilot but ultimately decided to pass on the project. “As the show has always been near and dear to my heart, it was a very difficult decision to pass on the project, a decision that has upset and confused so many fans of the original series,” Bakula said. “[Hopefully] this new cast and crew are lucky enough to tap into the magic that propelled the original Quantum Leap into the hearts and minds of generations past and present.“
How do you feel about Quantum Leap getting canceled?
The post Quantum Leap canceled after two seasons appeared first on JoBlo.
THR reports that Beau Willimon is set to co-write the script for James Mangold’s Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi.
Willimon is a playwright and screenwriter best known for developing House of Cards for Netflix, but he also has some Star Wars experience as he worked on the first season of Andor, writing three episodes of the critically acclaimed series. He will co-write the script for Dawn of the Jedi (which is just a working title) alongside Mangold, who will also direct.
We don’t know all that much about the project, only that it will take place 25,000 years before the Skywalker Saga and explore the first Jedi and the discovery of the Force. “It was something that Jim [Mangold] immediately sparked to, and I think it’s a really nice compliment to what we’re doing with moving into the future with Rey, and then understanding a bit more of where this all came from,” Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy explained. “Because it will be at the heart of creating the new Jedi Order, so to get a real sense of where that might have began with the dawn of the Jedi could be pretty cool.“
Mangold has said that this new project will take inspiration from 1950s biblical epics. “I told Kathy [Kennedy, head of Lucasfilm] I wanted to make a kind of Bible movie,” Mangold explained, “a kind of Ten Commandments of Star Wars–kind of a Cecil B DeMille film about the arrival of the Force, and that’s what I’ve been pecking away at between press events. That’s the idea.“
As James Mangold is currently shooting his Bob Dylan biopic starring Timothée Chalamet, it’s not known when Dawn of the Jedi will start shooting, but it won’t be the first new Star Wars movie in theaters. That honour will be reserved for The Mandalorian & Grogu, which Jon Favreau will direct. Production is expected to kick off later this year and the film was officially slated for a May 22, 2026 release earlier today.
In addition to Dawn of the Jedi and The Mandalorian movie, we’ve also got Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s post-Rise of Skywalker film about Rey (Daisy Ridley) rebuilding the Jedi Order as well as a New Republic movie being developed by Dave Filoni which will tie together the stories featured in The Mandalorian, Ahsoka, and The Book of Boba Fett.
The post Star Wars: Beau Willimon to co-write James Mangold’s Dawn of the Jedi movie appeared first on JoBlo.