‘Empire Strikes Back’ tops box office
Had the coronavirus pandemic not have swept the world, Ghostbusters: Afterlife would probably have just taken the top spot on the US box-office from Top Gun: Maverick, while Disney’s Jungle Cruise would be waiting around the corner to sail to that same spot. Yet, things did not pan out that way, and the majority of major movies have been delayed until next year. That doesn’t mean every cinema is closed. Drive-in theatres are becoming a go-to attraction in the US, with re-runs of beloved movies being the main draw. As a result, the 40th-anniversary re-release of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back has propelled the sequel to the number one spot at the US box-office, beating Black Panther and Inside Out at numbers two and three, respectively.
Clone Wars Series “The Bad Batch” Coming to Disney Plus
A new animated “Star Wars” series is imperial marching its way towards the small screen. Disney Plus has issued a series order for “Star Wars: The Bad Batch,” a spinoff of the popular “Clone Wars” series, Variety has confirmed. This new show, which is slated to launch on Disney Plus sometime in 2021, hails from Lucasfilm and follows the elite and experimental clones of the Bad Batch (first introduced in “Clone Wars”) as they find their way in a rapidly changing galaxy in the immediate aftermath of the Clone War. Members of Bad Batch – a unique squad of clones who vary genetically from their brothers in the Clone Army – each possess a singular exceptional skill which makes them extraordinarily effective soldiers and a formidable crew. In the post-Clone War era, they will take on daring mercenary missions as they struggle to stay afloat and find new purpose.
Genius Brands Teams With POW! Entertainment to Create ‘Stan Lee Universe’
Genius Brands International and Stan Lee’s POW! Entertainment are collaborating on a deal to create the “Stan Lee Universe” for properties that were made by Lee outside of Marvel Entertainment. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The agreement, announced on Monday, will create a joint venture for over 100 original Stan Lee creations. Lee, who died in 2018, was the creator, writer, editor and publisher of superhero comic characters, including Spider-Man, the X-Men, Thor, Iron Man, Black Panther and the Fantastic Four. Disney bought Marvel for $4 billion in 2009.
A ‘Groundhog Day’ TV Show Is in the Works, According to Stephen Tobolowsky
In Groundhog Day, which just might be Bill Murray‘s best movie, jaded weatherman Phil Connors is stuck in a time loop in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania on Groundhog Day until he can become a better, more enlightened person and turn his life around by finally moving it forward. Now, it sounds like that idea is about to loop back again on all of us, proving once and for all “humanity” hasn’t quite reached the level of enlightenment it needs to yet. According to actor/national treasure Stephen Tobolowsky on the Production Meeting Podcast, a Groundhog Day TV series is in the works. Tobolowsky didn’t reveal any plot, story, or structure details (hey, we’ve proven time loops work in TV on Russian Doll, why can’t they work here too?), but the man who iconically played “Needlenose” Ned Ryerson in the original film charmingly spilled the beans on how casually he himself found out about the project.
