‘Godzilla: King of the Monsters’ Roars Past ‘Aladdin’ at Box Office With $49 Million Opening - TheWrap

Warner Bros.’ “Godzilla: King of the Monsters” grossed $49 million this weekend, a little lower than initial projections which pegged the film to open between $55-65 million.

But that means “Godzilla” actually took first place this weekend, with Disney’s “Aladdin” coming in as a close second with $42.3 million. It opened last weekend to $91.5 million ($116.8 million over the four-day Memorial Day Weekend) and was expected to have another weekend in the low $40 million range. This weekend’s total brings the film’s cume to $185 million domestically and $446 million globally.

The 2014 “Godzilla” grossed $93.1 million in its opening weekend, and “Kong: Skull Island” ended up with a $61 million opening in March 2017.

Also Read: 'Godzilla: King of the Monsters' on Pace to Overtake 'Aladdin' at Box Office

“Godzilla: King of the Monsters” is directed by Michael Dougherty and finds the legendary kaiju monster facing off against his greatest titanic foes, including Mothra, Rodan and the three-headed dragon King Ghidorah. Millie Bobby Brown, Vera Farmiga, Kyle Chandler, Ken Watanabe, Ziyi Zhang, Bradley Whitford, Sally Hawkins, Charles Dance, Thomas Middleditch, Aisha Hinds, David Straithairn and Anthony Ramos star. Its score of Rotten Tomatoes is 40% and its CinemaScore if B+.

Taron Egerton’s “Rocketman” is expected to take third place this weekend with a projected opening of $18-$20 million, with the possibility of reaching as high as $25 million. It stars Egerton in a fantastical jukebox musical about Elton John that uses the iconic pop singer’s greatest hits in order to tell his life story from his start as a boy named Reginald Dwight to eventually battling substance abuse addiction. Jamie Bell, Richard Madden and Bryce Dallas Howard co-star, and reviews and early reaction following its premiere at Cannes have been strong. “Rocketman” currently has a 90% score on Rotten Tomatoes and an A- CinemaScore.

Also Read: 'Rocketman' Fact Check: Did Elton John Really Take His Stage Name From John Lennon?

“Ma,” from Universal and Blumhouse, grossed $18.3 million this weekend, on par with its projection of a $20 million opening — Universal had predicted a start in the mid-teens against a $5 million production budget. It has a 61% score on Rotten Tomatoes and a B- CinemaScore.

Oscar-winner Octavia Spencer stars in the film as a fun-loving mom who befriends a group of high school kids by buying them alcohol and giving them a place to party, only to reveal she has a dangerous obsession and hidden motive in keeping them coming back to her home.

Tate Taylor (“The Help”) directed the horror film from a script written by Scotty Landes. Diana Silvers, Juliette Lewis, Luke Evans, Missi Pyle, McKaley Miller, Corey Fogelmanis, Gianni Paolo and Dante Brown co-star.

Also Read: 5 Biggest Summer Box Office Showdowns, Including 'Aladdin' vs. 'Godzilla' (Photos)

Rounding out this weekend’s top five was “John Wick: Chapter 3– Parabellum,” which grossed another $11.1 million, bringing its estimated cume to date of $125.8 million domestically.

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2019-06-02 15:02:00Z
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Why Is Meghan Markle One of the Least-Liked Women in the Royal Family? - The Cheat Sheet

Let’s put the cards on the table about the title of this piece you’re reading for proper context. We all know many Americans respect Meghan Markle, and she’s about to become even more popular now that her son Archie Harrison has entered the world. This isn’t to say British polls still don’t show much of their public having some kind of unfounded beef with Meghan.

All we can say to that is: What’s up with these people? Before we make any opinions, though, it’s best to look at the evidence and try to weed out why Meghan Markle is still the second least liked woman in the royal brood.

What do the British polls say about Meghan Markle?

Meghan Markle | Jonathan Brady – WPA Pool/Getty Images

The British people seem decidedly different from Americans on their sentiments about Meghan. According to a recent poll, Kate Middleton has moved far above Meghan in royal likeability factor. Many thought Meghan would shoot up in the U.K. popularity polls after giving birth to the royal baby. It didn’t seem to make any difference there.

Of course, we have to take a minute here to figure out what kind of hard feelings the British people have against Meghan. We’ve theorized that maybe this public reaction is due to the British media essentially going to war with Prince William and Prince Harry with mostly fabricated stories to ruin their reputations.

Another side of this is still the disturbing reality of racism in the U.K. and WASP culture dominating for hundreds of years. Even if some of the public there don’t want to admit to it, this may be the reality, not including the paparazzi convincing everyone Markle isn’t what she seems.

You can see a growing disparity, especially when the more traditional royals all still rank high in the above surveys.

Who’s the least liked royal?

What a pack of lies. Duchess of Cornwall is far from the most hated Royal. She is as far as I can tell from my reading of comments on sm being very well accepted these days. Far more accepted than Meghan. #RoyalFamily https://t.co/LGEm8VRcJM

— BevR (@BevR04859477) May 25, 2019

At least Meghan didn’t end up at No. 1 on this list. It turns out Camilla Parker Bowles is still the least liked of any royal currently living, outside of disputes on this from social media denizens. Many clearly still hold a grudge against her factoring into Diana’s divorce from Charles.

We’ve all certainly wondered had history rebooted, we would have seen Charles marry Camilla from the get-go to avoid Diana so much personal pain. Then again, we’re always reminded negative events often happen for a reason to beget more positive things. Harry and William wouldn’t have existed had this happened, nor Meghan as a royal.

If you wondered, Camilla sits at 24% approval rating, while Meghan is at 39%. Can Meghan really fix this popularity problem by allowing people to learn more about her?

Social media could help Meghan Markle reach out to a still skeptical public

Perhaps that Instagram account Meghan opened with Harry will allow her to communicate with the public more often and explain her actions to prove her good intentions. Enough evidence is already there Meghan just wants to make a difference, no matter if she wants independence from the usual royal protocol.

Either the British public resent her trying to be independent in changing royal rules, or it’s still an inherent bias against a royal being of mixed race. Based on what we’ve seen, it has to be either of these two because Meghan has proven she wants to be a positive force. Plus, the media couldn’t be making the public this gullible based on publishing repeated rumors.

Harry and Meghan’s Instagram account will be the only place she can really set the record straight. We just hope Meghan uses it wisely to address all the falsities being written about her to remind everyone they should do a little vetting before believing a story.

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2019-06-02 08:09:07Z
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How Justin Trudeau Celebrated the Birth of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's New Baby - ELLE.com

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s son Archie already has some very famous fans. In addition to receiving a special visit from his Auntie Serena Williams, he also just got a special message and birthday gift from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

“Canadians were overjoyed that Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Sussex welcomed into their family a new baby, Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor,” Trudeau’s statement read. “We look forward to hosting them all on a future visit to Canada. To celebrate the birth, Canada will donate $100,000 to the Breakfast Club of Canada, an organization that works to nurture children's potential by providing healthy breakfasts before school. Every day, the Club helps feed more than 220,000 students in over 1,600 schools across the country, to make sure young Canadians get the healthy start they need to thrive. The donation announced today will help bring the Breakfast Club to five new schools, reaching over 500 more children daily. This represents more than 100,000 breakfasts over a school year.”

After the birth of Archie on May 6, Meghan and Harry requested donations rather than flowers or gifts. So far Archie has only made one public appearance, two days after he was born on May 8. Meghan and Harry showed off their first child to the press at Windsor Castle, and gushed about their baby boy.

“He has the sweetest temperament, he’s really calm,” said Meghan. “It’s magic. It’s pretty amazing.”

Erika Harwood Erika Harwood is a New York-based freelance writer covering fashion, beauty, pop culture, and politics.

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2019-06-01 20:37:00Z
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Pioneering rocker Roky Erickson dead at 71 - Fox News

Roky Erickson, the blue-eyed, dark-haired Texan who headed the Austin-based 13th Floor Elevators, a pioneering psychedelic rock band in the 1960s that scored with "You're Gonna Miss Me," has died. He was 71.

Erickson's sinuous lead guitar and wailing vocals didn't turn him into a chart topper, but they cemented his role as a musician's musician. Fans included everyone from Lenny Kaye and the Swedish metal group Ghost — who covered his "If You Have Ghosts" — to ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons.

A 1990 tribute album to Erickson, "Where the Pyramid Meets the Eye," attracted the likes of R.E.M., T-Bone Burnett, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Julian Cope, The Mighty Lemon Drops, Primal Scream and ZZ Top.

Erickson's death on Friday was announced by his brother, Mikel Erickson, on Facebook and confirmed by his agent, Dave Kaplan. The cause and location of death were not revealed.

"It's almost unfathomable to contemplate a world without Roky Erickson. He created his own musical galaxy and early on was a true inspiration," Gibbons said in a statement.

After the trippy 13th Floor Elevators dissolved in the face of drug arrests and instability, Erickson in the early '70s entered an insanity plea to a marijuana possession charge and ended up spending some time in an institution.

A short-lived effort to reunite the Elevators followed. Erickson put out a book of poetry — "Openers" — and continued making music, including the songs "Two Headed Dog" and the LP "The Evil One."

In 1986, he released the album "Don't Slander Me," and a 2005 documentary by Keven McAlester about him was called "You're Gonna Miss Me." His later albums include the mid-1990s effort, "All That May Do My Rhyme," and a 2010 collaboration with Okkervil River, "True Love Cast Out All Evil."

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2019-06-01 18:44:07Z
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Elton John slams Russian distributor's censorship of 'Rocketman' gay sex scenes - CNN

The local film distributor, Central Partnership company, cut the scenes to "comply with Russian legislation," it told state news agency TASS.

According to high-profile Russian film critic Anton Dolin, who has seen both the edited and unedited versions, "all scenes of kisses, sex and oral sex between men were cut out."

"Only five minutes were removed from the film, but this is very noticeable," said Dolin on his Facebook page, adding that they were a "fundamental five minutes, very important for artistic design."

John and the filmmakers said in a statement that they rejected "in the strongest possible terms the decision to pander to local laws and censor Rocketman for the Russian market."

They said film company Paramount Pictures had been "brave and bold partners in allowing us to create a film which is a true representation of Elton's extraordinary life, warts and all."

Paramount, for its part, said it was "releasing the film in its entirety around the world regardless of rating." But it added that "like all studios, we must adhere to local laws and requirements in certain territories in which the film is being shown."

The decision to remove the scenes was "made solely by the distributor," Russia's Culture Ministry told TASS, adding that it "issued no recommendations" concerning the scenes.

The film features British actor Taron Egerton as John, following his rise to fame from gifted pianist "Reggie Dwight" to a flamboyant superstar fighting drug and alcohol addiction, and coming out as gay.

In an article for the Guardian, John wrote: "I didn't want a film packed with drugs and sex, but equally, everyone knows I had quite a lot of both during the '70s and '80s, so there didn't seem to be much point in making a movie that implied that after every gig, I'd quietly gone back to my hotel room with only a glass of warm milk and the Gideon's Bible for company."

Film critic Dolin said the "grossest thing" about the Russian edit was that the final caption had been removed from the closing credits.

"In the original, it says that Elton John found the love of his life and is raising children with the man he loves (there is a dramatic moment in the film when his mother says to him 'you are doomed to be lonely')," wrote Dolin.

"In the Russian version it says the musician set up a foundation to fight AIDS and is still working with a long-time co-author," he said.

CNN's Fran Curtis, Megan Thomas, Bex Wright, Mary Ilyushina reported from Atlanta, London and Moscow. Sheena McKenzie wrote in London.

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2019-06-01 16:48:06Z
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Pete Davidson Makes Runway Debut at Alexander Wang - Papermag

It seems Pete Davidson now moonlights as a high fashion model. Since Saturday Night Live just ended Season 44, the comedian definitely wasn't at 30 Rock to do his regular gig. Instead, to the audience and everyone else on the Internet's surprise, he was there for Alexander Wang's Collection 1 2020 runway show.

Davidson wore a simple look — not too far from something he would wear on the daily: a white tank top that showed off his collection of tattoos, including one of the Notorious RBG. He also wore a black backwards cap with the Alexander Wang label, along with two-tone pants with one leg in black leather and the other a light-wash jean.

If you want to see how the 25-year-old did on his runway debut, see the video, below:

Aside from Pete, other celebrity sightings during the show also included supermodels Kendall Jenner and Kaia Gerber.

But, really, what made Collection 1 2020 such a spectacle was the fact that it was opened to the public. While VIPs and executives gathered by the checkerboard runway below, people were watching from above by the sidelines of the iconic Rockefeller Center fountain. And Wang made sure that New Yorkers and visitors felt welcome, even providing free New York treats such as hotdogs, pretzels, roasted nuts, and canned snow cones and green tea slushies with the Alexander Wang signature label, of course.

Wang also partnered with Lyft for pedicab rides around the city. See the gallery, below, for a look into the full Alexander Wang Collection 1 2020 experience.

Lead photo via Getty / Additional photos courtesy of Martin Romero

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2019-06-01 14:48:36Z
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Elton John slams Russian distributor's censorship of 'Rocketman' gay sex scenes - CNN

The local film distributor, Central Partnership company, cut the scenes to "comply with Russian legislation," it told state news agency TASS.

According to high-profile Russian film critic Anton Dolin, who has seen both the edited and unedited versions, "all scenes of kisses, sex and oral sex between men were cut out."

"Only five minutes were removed from the film, but this is very noticeable," said Dolin on his Facebook page, adding that they were a "fundamental five minutes, very important for artistic design."

John and the filmmakers said in a statement that they rejected "in the strongest possible terms the decision to pander to local laws and censor Rocketman for the Russian market."

They said film company Paramount Pictures had been "brave and bold partners in allowing us to create a film which is a true representation of Elton's extraordinary life, warts and all."

Paramount, for its part, said it was "releasing the film in its entirety around the world regardless of rating." But it added that "like all studios, we must adhere to local laws and requirements in certain territories in which the film is being shown."

The decision to remove the scenes was "made solely by the distributor," Russia's Culture Ministry told TASS, adding that it "issued no recommendations" concerning the scenes.

The film features British actor Taron Egerton as John, following his rise to fame from gifted pianist "Reggie Dwight" to a flamboyant superstar fighting drug and alcohol addiction, and coming out as gay.

In an article for the Guardian, John wrote: "I didn't want a film packed with drugs and sex, but equally, everyone knows I had quite a lot of both during the '70s and '80s, so there didn't seem to be much point in making a movie that implied that after every gig, I'd quietly gone back to my hotel room with only a glass of warm milk and the Gideon's Bible for company."

Film critic Dolin said the "grossest thing" about the Russian edit was that the final caption had been removed from the closing credits.

"In the original, it says that Elton John found the love of his life and is raising children with the man he loves (there is a dramatic moment in the film when his mother says to him 'you are doomed to be lonely')," wrote Dolin.

"In the Russian version it says the musician set up a foundation to fight AIDS and is still working with a long-time co-author," he said.

CNN's Fran Curtis, Megan Thomas, Bex Wright, Mary Ilyushina reported from Atlanta, London and Moscow. Sheena McKenzie wrote in London.

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2019-06-01 15:27:11Z
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