‘Ant-Man and the Wasp’ buzzes to $76 million debut
Despite its heroes’ diminutive size, “Ant-Man and the Wasp” opened with typical Marvel might at the box office, with an estimated $76 million in ticket sales.
According to studio estimates Sunday, the “Ant-Man” sequel easily surpassed the $57 million debut of the 2015 original in North America. The 20th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe — and the 20th
‘”It came in solidly within of our range and definitely sized-up the sequel,” said Taff.
“Ant-Man and the Wasp,” with a reported production budget of about $160 million, may have performed well enough to firmly establish its place among Marvel’s more main-line superheroes. Reviews were good (86 percent fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) and audiences gave it an A-minus CinemaScore. Ticket sales overseas added another $85 million.
Befitting the summer season, the weekend’s top five films were all sequels. The weekend’s other new wide release was Blumhouse Productions’ “The First Purge,” the fourth film in the low-budget horror franchise about an annual 12-hour period of lawlessness. With July 4th falling on a Wednesday and thus depriving Hollywood of a holiday weekend, Universal opted to release “The First Purge” on Wednesday, while “Ant-Man” waited for the customary Thursday night previews.
“The First Purge” debuted with $32 million over the five-day frame, and $18.5 million for the weekend. Particularly following 2016’s “The Purge: Election Year,” the franchise has made satirical jabs at social commentary. “First Purge,” a Staten Island-set prequel, focuses on the ritual’s origins as a method of culling minorities.
“Blumhouse just continues to overdeliver for us,” said Jim Orr, distribution chief for Blumhouse’s distribution partner, Universal. “The Purge franchise continually comments on issues that are current in society, obviously through a kind of dark and distorted lens. Tying it to the July Fourth holiday made a lot of sense.”
Some Los Angeles theaters overperformed, executives said, likely due to those seeking air conditioning during the Southern California heat wave. But whether due to travel- or weather-related reasons, nationwide ticket sales were unexpectedly soft on Saturday. The weekend was about 10 percent off the pace of the same weekend last year, when “Spider-Man: Homecoming” opened, according to comScore. But the summer box office overall, up 13.5 percent from last year, remains robust.
The films that trailed “Ant-Man” hit their own milestones. Disney’s “Incredibles 2” passed “Finding Dory” to become Pixar’s top-grossing film domestically, not accounting for inflation. It earned $29 million in its fourth weekend, bringing its domestic total to $504 million and its worldwide haul to $773 million.
With $28.6 million in its third weekend, Universal’s “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom” crossed $1 billion worldwide. It’s done especially well internationally, which has made up 69 percent of the dinosaur sequel’s global footprint.
As a clear alternative to the multiplex offerings, the “Mister Rogers” documentary “Won’t You Be My Neighbor” continued to perform as an art-house sensation. Ranking ninth for the weekend (in between “Tag” and “Deadpool 2”), the Focus Features release earned $2.6 million in 893 theaters over the weekend. With $12.4 million in five weeks, it’s the year’s top documentary at the box office, edging out the Ruth Bader Ginsburg doc “RBG.”
Boots Riley’s surreal satire “Sorry to Bother You,” starring Lakeith Stanfield and Tessa Thompson, made one of the year’s best debuts, per-screen. The acclaimed Annapurna Pictures release opened with $717,302 on 16 screens, good for a per-screen average of $44,831. The directorial debut of the hip-hop pioneer Riley, “Sorry to Bother You” is about a black telemarketer who’s catapulted into success after he adopts a “white voice.”
Movie theaters in China were packed by a based-on-a-true-story black comedy about a man who becomes a savior to leukemia patients by smuggling cheaper generic drugs from India. The Chinese film “Dying to Survive,” which has drawn comparisons to the AIDS drama “Dallas Buyers Club,” opened with $146 million in the world’s second largest movie market, according to comScore. .
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to comScore. Where available, the latest international numbers for Friday through Sunday also are included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
1. “Ant-Man and the Wasp,” $76 million ($85 million international).
2. “Incredibles 2,” $29 million ($35.7 million international).
3. “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom,” $28.6 million ($27.6 million international).
4. “The First Purge,” $17.2 million ($10.9 million international).
5. “Sicario: Day of the Soldado,” $7.3 million ($3 million international).
6. “Uncle Drew,” $6.6 million.
7. “Ocean’s 8,” $5.3 million ($7.7 million international).
8. “Tag,” $3.1 million ($2.9 million international).
9. “Won’t You Be My Neighbor,” $2.6 million.
10. “Deadpool 2,” $1.7 million.
———
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at international theaters (excluding the U.S. and Canada), according to comScore:
1. “Dying to Survive,” $146 million.
2. “Ant-Man and the Wasp,” $85 million.
3. “Incredibles 2,” $35.7 million.
4. “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom,” $27.6 million.
5. “Sanju,” $12.2 million.
6. “The First Purge,” $10.9 million.
7. “Happy Dad and Son 3: Adventure in Russia,” $10 million.
8. “Animal World,” $8.5 million.
9. “Ocean’s 8,” $7.7 million.
10. “Witch,” $4.1 million.
Source: https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/ant-man-wasp-buzzes-76-million-debut-56440992
Elfen’s NEW Neosoul Hip Hop Music Tuesday presents E. Jones REVISTED
As of 2019 I still bang my head to this album!
This week I found a headbanger of an hip hop album! Peeping at Spice Adams FB Fan Page I saw he was featuring E. Jones in one of his skits Anthony Spice Adams is a true underground hip hop head. He listens to anything 9th wonder. Anything old school hip hop and underground. But I’m straying away from this DOPE ASS album Deadstock vol 2 from E. Jones.
I know some of ya’ll may disagree with sampling. I call it an art. To take a song like I found love on a two way street and add a Funky beat and loop the Chorus O M G. All 22 tracks are just 52 minutes of deliciousness. I’ve been listening to E. Jones all weekend and most of today. TRUST ME this is the dopist album so far this year.
3 Georgia Workers Accused of Making Snapchat Video Titled ‘The End’ While in Room With Dying Stroke Victim
Police arrested three employees of a Georgia assisted living facility after they allegedly made a Snapchat video titled “The End” while in a room with a dying stroke victim, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Nineteen-year-old Lizeth Jocelyn Cervantes Ramirez, 21-year-old Jorden Lanah Bruce and 21-year-old Mya Janai Moss all face charges of exploiting an elderly and disabled person, the newspaper reported.
The three women, who were employees of Bentley Senior Living in Jefferson, were supposed to be monitoring a 76-year-old woman until a hospice worker showed up. Instead, they ignored her and recorded the Snapchat story, according to the paper, in which the victim does not appear.
“One of them was smoking a vape pen. They were using profanities and (making obscene hand gestures) at the camera,” a Jefferson Police Department detective told Atlanta station WSB-TV.
Another Bentley employee noticed what was happening and reported the trio, police said, leading to their June 22 arrest.
Moss and Bruce were both released on bond, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement took custody of Ramirez.
Missing baby survives 9 hours buried in woods
MISSOULA, Mont. — A 5-month-old infant who miraculously survived more than nine hours being buried under a pile of sticks and debris in the woods of western Montana suffered only minor injuries despite wearing wet and soiled clothes in cold weather, authorities said Monday.
The baby boy is otherwise in good condition, authorities said.
Missoula County Sheriff’s deputies were called about 8 p.m. Saturday about a man threatening people in the Lolo Hot Springs area of the Lolo National Forest. Deputies apprehended the man, who indicated that a baby was buried somewhere in the woods.
The sheriff’s office hastily put together a search crew of federal, state and local officials that combed the forest outside the hot springs for six hours before a deputy heard a baby’s cry at about 2:30 a.m. Sunday.
He found the baby face-down under the pile of sticks and debris, dressed only in a wet and soiled onesie in the 46-degree weather.
“He suffered some minor scrapes and bruising but overall is in good health,” sheriff’s spokeswoman Brenda Bassett said in a statement Monday.
The baby was taken to a hospital. Custody of the child has been referred to the state Division of Child and Family Services, whose spokesman, Chuck Council, did not immediately return a call for comment on Monday.
Francis Crowley, 32, was being held on $50,000 bail on a charge of criminal endangerment. Additional charges will follow, the sheriff’s office said in a statement Sunday.
“For all of us at the sheriff’s office, this is what we call a miracle,” the statement said. “For the officers who were present for this event, it’s especially hard knowing what this small baby endured in the last 24 hours.”
The nature of Crowley’s relationship to the baby was not immediately clear. There was no information on whether Crowley had an attorney.
via: https://nypost.com/2018/07/09/missing-baby-survives-9-hours-buried-in-woods/
Man who posed as high school athlete accused of relationship with teen
A 25-year-old Texas man who allegedly posed as a high school student is accused of kissing and touching a teen girl and propositioning her for sex before he was caught, police said.
Sidney Bouvier Gilstrap-Portley, 25, was charged Friday with indecency with a child. He’s accused of dating a 14-year-old girl while posing as a 17-year-old boy at Hillcrest High School. The girl was a freshman at the high school and met Gilstrap-Portley through a friend, the Dallas Morning-News reported, citing an arrest affidavit.
The girl knew Gilstrap-Portley under the name Rashaun Richardson, police said. A mutual friend told Gilstrap-Portley she was a year older than him and liked him, which led to the two exchanging Snapchat information, according to the Morning-News.
The relationship eventually progressed and Gilstrap-Portley asked the teen to kiss him and she did, the newspaper reported, citing the affidavit. The man allegedly then took the teen and her nephew to a park. He reportedly stayed in a car with the girl, and is accused of kissing her and touching her breasts over her clothing.
Gilstrap-Portley asked the girl to have sex, but she declined, the newspaper reported.
The mother of the 14-year-old girl told FOX4 News in May her daughter told her Gilstrap-Portley kissed and touched her but didn’t have a sexual relationship with her.
“He was popular. A lot of the girls liked him and he was giving her attention, though,” the mother told the station.
The woman never suspected Gilstrap-Portley of posing as a younger man until a detective approached her in May about the possibility of him wanting to relive his high school athletic career, she told the Morning-News
Gilstrap-Portley was arrested in May and charged with felony tampering with government documents for filing false enrollment records. He graduated from North Mesquite High School in 2011.
Grandmother dependent on oxygen tank dies after PSE&G cuts off power to her home
NEWARK, N.J. — A New Jersey grandmother has died after the electricity company cut power to her house, despite her paying $500 to her account only days before.
Desiree Washington says her 68-year-old mother Linda Daniels relied on an electric-powered oxygen tank to breathe, and she died of heart failure on July 5, hours after Public Service Enterprise Group (PSE&G) turned off the electricity at her Newark home.
Washington said the temperature in her mother’s Shephard Avenue home likely rose to well over 100 degrees the day the power was turned off and it aggravated her mother’s heart condition.
Washington said $500 was paid to the company two days before, and her family had notified the company of her mother’s medical issues.
PSE&G said they cut off power because of a lack of payments over several months.
The company said they were unaware of Daniels’ medical needs, and they are reviewing their records.
Newark Police are investigating.
Daniels is survived by two children, five grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. She worked for the Newark Board of Education for more than 20 years and has lived in Newark for more than 45 years.
Her family said Daniels is locally famous for her secret pecan cake recipe and her passion for serving others and the community.
A memorial fund has been set up to help Daniels’ family with funeral expenses.
In a statement to PIX11 News, PSE&G said:
“Everyone at PSE&G is saddened by this terrible tragedy and we extend our sincere condolences to the family.
“While there will be a complete investigation of this matter, our records indicate that this account was severely in arrears and we made at least 15 attempts to notify the customer since January, 2018, including two visits to the residence prior to the disconnection.
“We have reviewed our records dating back to 2016 and there is no indication by the customer of a medical condition in the home prior to disconnection.
“When notified of a medical situation, PSE&G carefully follows all procedures and regulations to ensure the safety of the customer. We never would have disconnected service had we been informed of the circumstances.
“When we were contacted after service had been disconnected and were notified that the customer had medical issues, we began the process to restore service.
“We are carefully reviewing everything that happened around this terrible incident. In the meantime, we urge customers who are having trouble paying their bills, and especially those with a medical condition, to contact PSE&G right away.”
Hit Musical Featuring Cotton-Picking White People Singing Slave Songs Closes Amid Protests
LMBFAO SOME Ignorant bigoted racists are so entertaining. Really?? Did they call each other Nigg[ER]? Did they have a whipping scene? I wonder why it was such a hit? I wonder why would any white production even attempt this type of musical. In this case this woman was just ignorant and did not think about the consequences of why she should not produce something like this. Her heart was in the right place but….
Live and learn I guess
The world’s biggest jazz festival was forced to end the run of one of its most popular shows after protesters objected to the musical that featured white people picking cotton while a white woman warbled organic, gluten-free, kale-wrapped negro spirituals. Ain’t that good news?
Scheduled for five shows, the musical SLĀV was such a surprise runaway hit at Canada’s Montreal Jazz Festival that producers of the festival added 11 additional shows due to overwhelming demand for the $60-90 tickets. Produced by acclaimed white man Robert Lepage, the theatrical extravaganza featured the dingo-like vocal stylings of Betty Bonifassi performing “many eras of black music including slave songs, work songs, railroad songs, field songs, prisoners’ songs, laments and lullabies.”
The world’s biggest jazz festival was forced to end the run of one of its most popular shows after protesters objected to the musical that featured white people picking cotton while a white woman warbled organic, gluten-free, kale-wrapped negro spirituals. Ain’t that good news?
Scheduled for five shows, the musical SLĀV was such a surprise runaway hit at Canada’s Montreal Jazz Festival that producers of the festival added 11 additional shows due to overwhelming demand for the $60-90 tickets. Produced by acclaimed white man Robert Lepage, the theatrical extravaganza featured the dingo-like vocal stylings of Betty Bonifassi performing “many eras of black music including slave songs, work songs, railroad songs, field songs, prisoners’ songs, laments and lullabies.”
As further proof that the gentrifying instinct of caucasity knows no bounds, a new theater…
After protesters showed up on opening night to instruct the mildewed marshmallow singing soulless versions of freedom songs where to follow the drinking gourd to, Bonifassi and Lepage took to Facebook to let the protesters know they ain’t gon’ let nobody turn them around, writing: “Do we have the right to tell these stories? Audience members will have the opportunity to decide after having seen the show.”
Well, it looks like they decided.
Reports say Mary could be seen weeping and apparently, no one even informed Martha that she shouldn’t moan. According to the New York Times, an audience member even held up a sign that said: “Is there nothing y’all won’t steal? White culture is theft.”
Even though the Montreal Jazz Festival had sold more than 8,000 tickets, the festival closed the show on Wednesday after only two performances. Organizers said they were “shaken” by the intensity of the response and decided to lay their burdens down by the riverside and study whiteness no more.
“We would like to apologize to those who were hurt,” festival producers said in a statement. “It was not our intention at all.”
As a descendant of enslaved people, I offer the following response to the Montreal Jazz Festival’s apology:
If you weren’t aware that stealing the most painful part of an entire group of a people’s past, whitewashing it and then allowing the people who benefitted from the historical mass kidnapping, rape and genocide to double back and profit from that theft could possibly be a bad thing, then the audacity of whiteness must be the most insipidly evil thing that ever existed on the face of the earth.
But then again, your entire festival is based on jazz, out of which you sucked the soul and pain so you can sell it to Birkenstock-wearing festival goers to writhe around as they bathe in the gifts stolen from the negro hearts and gentrified by crooked caucasian fingers who have historically plucked out our eyes because our blindness makes them feel like they can see better. Fuck your apology, white people.
And if you’re white but you’re not racist, this doesn’t apply to you. However, if you feel hurt by my previous statement…
I apologize. That was not my intention.
See how it feels?
Source: https://thegrapevine.theroot.com/hit-musical-featuring-cotton-picking-white-people-singi-1827359045?utm_source=theroot_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow
Tyler Honeycutt Former NBA Player Found Dead After Standoff With Police: Report
Former basketball player for the Sacramento Kings, Tyler Honeycutt, was found dead Saturday after an hourslong standoff with the Los Angeles Police Department, according to local reports.
Honeycutt, 27, was reportedly behaving erratically when his mother called the police for assistance with him late Friday afternoon, according to ABC 7. Police said Honeycutt fired a gun at officers but did not hit anyone. Officers returned fire but Honeycutt was not struck.
Honeycutt reportedly barricaded himself inside the home. Police evacuated the immediate area before a SWAT team entered the residence early Saturday morning where they found the man dead, the LAPD said on Twitter. The police later on Saturday said Honeycutt died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Honeycutt was a second-round pick by the Kings in the 2011 NBA draft and played in 24 games over two seasons. He also played for the University of California, Los Angeles.
Source: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/former-ucla-nba-player-found-dead-after-standoff-with-police_us_5b40d763e4b05127ccf281c5
Woman charged in death of dog left for 7 hours in hot car at Walmart
JEFFERSON COUNTY, Ala. — An Alabama woman faces a felony animal cruelty charge after her dog died Wednesday, hours after it was locked inside a parked car amid brutal heat.
Stephanie Shae Thomas, 34, of Trussville, was charged with aggravated cruelty to animals Friday. Police say she left her dog in a Mercedes for more than seven hours on Independence Day at a Trussville Walmart.
Multiple shoppers and bystanders tried to open the car, according to a video by Stacey Guthrie.
Officers arrived at the scene after reports of a dog inside a car with the engine not on, according to Trussville Police Department.
Police were forced to break the window after an attempt to locate the driver failed. Cellphone video shows officers pulling the dog’s tan, limp body from the silver vehicle as shaken bystanders exclaim “Oh my God,” and “Come on, puppy.”
Police tried to resuscitate the animal at the scene, but weren’t successful.
Thomas eventually came out of the store around 12 p.m., according to Trussville police. She had parked the car at 4 a.m. and told officers she lost track of time.
Officers initially released Thomas, but, following an investigation, later arrested the 34-year-old on July 5.
Thomas is now being held in the Jefferson County Jail. Her bond is set at $25,000.
via: https://pix11.com/2018/07/06/woman-charged-in-death-of-dog-left-for-7-hours-in-hot-car-at-walmart/
Mother runs from hospital with infant after boy tests positive for drugs
MARYSVILLE, Calif. – A Northern California mom and her two kids have been found after police say she fled a Marysville hospital after her baby tested positive for drugs.
Witnesses told KTXL that Tina Baiz and her two kids were found near a Motel 6 in Linda.
Baiz and her kids were missing since July 4 when she brought her baby Zeke in for an emergency to Rideout Hospital in Marsville.
“We believe Tina may have overheard a conversation outside of the room discussing the positive result the child had for drugs in his system,” Yuba City police spokeswoman Shawna Pavey said.
Baiz left, while baby Zeke still had an IV inserted.
Police would not comment on how the kids are doing now, but they say they are questioning Baiz — who will likely face charges.
“We need to know exactly what has happened with Zeke and Zoe since the time she left Rideout Hospital until we found her this afternoon,” Pavey said.
But police say they could not have found Baiz and the kids without the community’s help.
“In cases like this, folks that are out in the community, along with the press, are so important in helping us get the information we need in the timeliest manner possible,” Pavey told FOX40.
Police would not say what type of drugs baby Zeke tested positive for.