Few comic book characters are as beloved as Spider-Man. With such a simple and understandable set of powers and a memorably iconic guiding ethos, Marvel’s signature character is a shining example of what it means to be a hero. Created in 1962 by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man has a rich…
Few comic book characters are as beloved as Spider-Man. With such a simple and understandable set of powers and a memorably iconic guiding ethos, Marvel’s signature character is a shining example of what it means to be a hero. Created in 1962 by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man has a rich…
If you go by his coffee mug, Michael Scott is the world’s best boss. But if you ask Jim or Pam or most certainly Toby, you’re going to get a very different answer. Ask Steve Carell himself, and he might describe him in the best way possible: a lovable asshole.
While short-lived, the original British version of The Office’s own Michael Scott, David Brent, made his mark as maybe the world’s worst boss, the sort of brash, arrogant type that you wouldn’t want in charge of you five days a week. And while Michael Scott would take on a number of these traits – especially early on – he had to be adapted for American audiences, lest viewers tune out.
As Paul Feig – who directed great episodes like “Dinner Party” and “Niagara” – recalled, Steve Carell had become huge through The Office and movies like The 40-Year-Old Virgin. Thus, they had to turn Michael Scott into a more likable figure. That decision was made during season two’s “Office Olympics”, which Feig also directed. “It was the scene we were shooting when everybody was supposed to be working and they’re screwing off doing this thing. And in order to not get in trouble with Michael, they’re going to give him a gold medal. But we’re shooting it and Steve gets emotional. Steve as the character, ‘cause he’s had this terrible day. And so he starts like kind of crying, like a tear goes down his eye and we’re like, ‘Oh my God.’ And I’m going like, ‘Oh, do that again. Do that again. This is a great.’ And I think that was this moment of like, that’s him.”
This turn may not have helped Carell win an Emmy, but helped mark Michael Scott as someone who actually had depth and, when it came down to it, tried his best…however inept, childish and inadvertently harmful he could be. “He’s got a humanity about him and everybody figured out, ‘No, he’s not an asshole. He’s a misguided idiot who is an asshole because he’s trying to be funny.’ Right. So you go like, ‘Okay, he means well.’”
Through Michael Scott and his Dunder Mifflin employees, The Office remained one of the most rewatchable shows in modern television.
What is your all-time favorite Michael Scott moment from The Office? Fly high in the comments section below.
The post How Steve Carell finally made Michael Scott likable appeared first on JoBlo.
The truth was out there for a long time that The X-Files was an incredible show – well, for about half its run, at least. But Dana Scully herself, Gillian Anderson, didn’t realize it at the time, not acknowledging The X-Files’ high notes until well after it went off the air for the first time in 2002.
Appearing on the Smartless podcast (via EW), Gillian Anderson remembered the interference she ran into that pushed her to block out the success of The X-Files. “When you’re doing something like that, all anybody says is, ‘Oh my god. The show. Oh my god. It’s the most amazing [thing]!’ And you don’t wanna hear that anymore. You don’t…I suddenly got what they were talking about, like, five years after the show ended. I was kinda like, ‘Yeah. That was kinda cool. I was on this really cool show.’” She added, “You know what happens when…you’re on a long running show is everything becomes so enmeshed and and not incestuous, but you literally feel like you’re living and breathing this, you know, the entire crew, the entire experience. And so I think by the time we were done after — you know, we did nine years — and I think I was well ready for it to be over.”
Gillian Anderson isn’t the only one who was ready by this point, as The X-Files saw a dramatic dip in quality after season five, with a strong argument for anything after season six. Really, when we think about the show’s best episodes, we’re talking ones like “Squeeze” (season 1), “Jose Chung’s From Outer Space” (season 3), “Bad Blood” (season 5), and more from the first half of the series. Who is really out there defending the post-Mulder episodes? After the ninth season went off the air, there were gaps in releases of more material, with movie The X-Files: I Want to Believe coming in 2008 and two additional seasons arriving in 2016 and 2018.
Where do you think The X-Files truly lost its way? What are your favorite episodes from the show? Make us believe in the comments section below.
The post Gillian Anderson didn’t buy into The X-Files hype until years later appeared first on JoBlo.
The truth was out there for a long time that The X-Files was an incredible show – well, for about half its run, at least. But Dana Scully herself, Gillian Anderson, didn’t realize it at the time, not acknowledging The X-Files’ high notes until well after it went off the air for the first time in 2002.
Appearing on the Smartless podcast (via EW), Gillian Anderson remembered the interference she ran into that pushed her to block out the success of The X-Files. “When you’re doing something like that, all anybody says is, ‘Oh my god. The show. Oh my god. It’s the most amazing [thing]!’ And you don’t wanna hear that anymore. You don’t…I suddenly got what they were talking about, like, five years after the show ended. I was kinda like, ‘Yeah. That was kinda cool. I was on this really cool show.’” She added, “You know what happens when…you’re on a long running show is everything becomes so enmeshed and and not incestuous, but you literally feel like you’re living and breathing this, you know, the entire crew, the entire experience. And so I think by the time we were done after — you know, we did nine years — and I think I was well ready for it to be over.”
Gillian Anderson isn’t the only one who was ready by this point, as The X-Files saw a dramatic dip in quality after season five, with a strong argument for anything after season six. Really, when we think about the show’s best episodes, we’re talking ones like “Squeeze” (season 1), “Jose Chung’s From Outer Space” (season 3), “Bad Blood” (season 5), and more from the first half of the series. Who is really out there defending the post-Mulder episodes? After the ninth season went off the air, there were gaps in releases of more material, with movie The X-Files: I Want to Believe coming in 2008 and two additional seasons arriving in 2016 and 2018.
Where do you think The X-Files truly lost its way? What are your favorite episodes from the show? Make us believe in the comments section below.
The post Gillian Anderson didn’t buy into The X-Files hype until years later appeared first on JoBlo.
The box office numbers are coming in, and one thing is for sure – Joker: Folie à Deux is officially DOA at the box office. How does a movie go from being the most anticipated film of the year to one of the biggest box office flops ever? I guess by making it a musical and showing absolute disdain (if not loathing) for the fans that made the first one a billion-dollar box office smash (and an Oscar winner to boot).
Indeed, the battle between Terrifier 3 and Joker: Folie à Deux wasn’t even close. The $5 million budget, unrated Terrifier 3 way outpaced expectations (including our own) to make just over $18 million this weekend (according to Deadline), despite no stars or studio support. When all is said and done, studios are going to have to sit up and take notice of the fact that two of the year’s most profitable movies, Terrifier 3 and Longlegs, wound up being smash hits because they became must-see events for their respective audiences. Why is it that seemingly only horror audiences can be mobilized this way? Maybe an enterprising studio can try to apply this formula to other, somewhat dormant genres, like lower-key action and comedy. Rebel Ridge was a smash for Netflix. Maybe something similar could gain a foothold in theaters?
Joker: Folie à Deux didn’t even manage a second-place finish, with it easily beaten by the well-reviewed The Wild Robot (now getting a sequel), which made $13.45 million for a strong $83.7 million total. It will likely cross the $100 million mark by the end of next weekend. Joker slumped into third place, falling a shocking 82% in its second weekend for a $7.055 million weekend, and an abysmal total just north of $52 million. When the final numbers are in, it could theoretically be beaten by Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, which made over $7 million this weekend for a $275 million total. It’s pretty interesting that Warner Bros has both the biggest hit of the fall season and the biggest flop.
The Lego-animated Pharrell doc, Piece By Piece, managed an ok fifth-place finish with $3.8 million. Transformers One continued to underperform (spectacularly) with $3.65 million for a $52 million total. In pretty sad news, Jason Reitman’s excellent Saturday Night, about the early days of SNL, totally whiffed at the box office this weekend, making a poor $3.4 million for a total of just over $4 million. It will be lucky to break $10 million domestically, although it should find an audience on VOD.
The anime My Hero Academia: You’re Next (which our own Steve Seigh reviewed here) did well enough to hit eighth place, with $3 million. A re-release of Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas turned out to be an event fans were dying to see, with it grossing a solid $2.3 million, bringing its lifeline gross to $89.9 million. Finally, the controversial Donald Trump movie, The Apprentice, was bombed (badly) and came in tenth place, with only $1.58 million despite playing on over 1500 screens. Yikes.
Next weekend sees the release of Parker Finn’s Smile 2, which could give us our first $50 million plus opening since Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Do you think Art the Clown will be able to slash his way to a second-place finish next weekend? Let us know in the comments!
The post Weekend Box Office: Terrifier 3 easily takes 1st place, Joker 2 falls a record 82% in week 2 appeared first on JoBlo.
The box office numbers are coming in, and one thing is for sure – Joker: Folie à Deux is officially DOA at the box office. How does a movie go from being the most anticipated film of the year to one of the biggest box office flops ever? I guess by making it a musical and showing absolute disdain (if not loathing) for the fans that made the first one a billion-dollar box office smash (and an Oscar winner to boot).
Indeed, the battle between Terrifier 3 and Joker: Folie à Deux wasn’t even close. The $5 million budget, unrated Terrifier 3 way outpaced expectations (including our own) to make just over $18 million this weekend (according to Deadline), despite no stars or studio support. When all is said and done, studios are going to have to sit up and take notice of the fact that two of the year’s most profitable movies, Terrifier 3 and Longlegs, wound up being smash hits because they became must-see events for their respective audiences. Why is it that seemingly only horror audiences can be mobilized this way? Maybe an enterprising studio can try to apply this formula to other, somewhat dormant genres, like lower-key action and comedy. Rebel Ridge was a smash for Netflix. Maybe something similar could gain a foothold in theaters?
Joker: Folie à Deux didn’t even manage a second-place finish, with it easily beaten by the well-reviewed The Wild Robot (now getting a sequel), which made $13.45 million for a strong $83.7 million total. It will likely cross the $100 million mark by the end of next weekend. Joker slumped into third place, falling a shocking 82% in its second weekend for a $7.055 million weekend, and an abysmal total just north of $52 million. When the final numbers are in, it could theoretically be beaten by Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, which made over $7 million this weekend for a $275 million total. It’s pretty interesting that Warner Bros has both the biggest hit of the fall season and the biggest flop.
The Lego-animated Pharrell doc, Piece By Piece, managed an ok fifth-place finish with $3.8 million. Transformers One continued to underperform (spectacularly) with $3.65 million for a $52 million total. In pretty sad news, Jason Reitman’s excellent Saturday Night, about the early days of SNL, totally whiffed at the box office this weekend, making a poor $3.4 million for a total of just over $4 million. It will be lucky to break $10 million domestically, although it should find an audience on VOD.
The anime My Hero Academia: You’re Next (which our own Steve Seigh reviewed here) did well enough to hit eighth place, with $3 million. A re-release of Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas turned out to be an event fans were dying to see, with it grossing a solid $2.3 million, bringing its lifeline gross to $89.9 million. Finally, the controversial Donald Trump movie, The Apprentice, was bombed (badly) and came in tenth place, with only $1.58 million despite playing on over 1500 screens. Yikes.
Next weekend sees the release of Parker Finn’s Smile 2, which could give us our first $50 million plus opening since Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Do you think Art the Clown will be able to slash his way to a second-place finish next weekend? Let us know in the comments!
The post Weekend Box Office: Terrifier 3 easily takes 1st place, Joker 2 falls a record 82% in week 2 appeared first on JoBlo.
With Joker: Folie a Deux withering away at the box office, it seems likely that Warner Bros and DC are going to want to put a little distance between themselves and Todd Phillips’s disastrous sequel before the Clown Prince of Crime is welcomed back to the big screen (it seems highly unlikely he’ll figure into The Batman Part 2). However, sooner or later the Joker will return, as not one but two actors have won Oscars for playing the role (although Phoenix’s interpretation has been somewhat retconned). It’s just a delicious part to play, isn’t it? But, of all the actors, who was the best? Take the poll below and let us know!
The post POLL: Who is the best big-screen Joker? appeared first on JoBlo.
With the release of Vessel of Hatred, Diablo IV has seen its most significant changes since its original launch in June 2023. Adding a completely new region, Nahantu, along with a wealth of added characters and modes and a brand-new story, the expansion pack is the very definition of a game changer. But it goes even…
With the release of Vessel of Hatred, Diablo IV has seen its most significant changes since its original launch in June 2023. Adding a completely new region, Nahantu, along with a wealth of added characters and modes and a brand-new story, the expansion pack is the very definition of a game changer. But it goes even…