Following is a summary of current entertainment news briefs.
Box Office: Marvel’s ‘Shang-Chi’ Crushes Labor Day Weekend Records With $90 Million
Marvel’s “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” capped off Labor Day weekend at the box office with a bang. The superhero action-adventure, starring Canadian actor Simu Liu, had an even bigger debut than expected, collecting $90 million in its first four days of release and setting a new high watermark for the holiday weekend. Since Labor Day is traditionally a slow weekend at the box office, the film’s three day total of $75.5 million from 4,300 theaters blew past previous the record set by 2007’s “Halloween” and its $30.6 million start. Despite concerns the delta variant would keep audiences at home, “Shang-Chi” notched the second-biggest opening weekend of the pandemic, behind only “Black Widow” with $80 million.
Film shines light on Mexican sweatshops at Venice festival
“The Box”, a Mexican movie competing for the top award at the Venice Film Festival, takes viewers inside textile sweatshops to shine a light on labour exploitation through the eyes of its protagonist, a teenager boy. The film, by Venezuelan director Lorenzo Vigas, centres around young Hatzin, who has gone to collect the remains of his father, one of countless people who suddenly vanish in northern Mexico only to be found in a mass grave.
‘The Wire’ actor Michael K. Williams remembered for his compassion
Michael K. Williams, best known for playing shotgun toting drug dealer Omar Little in the HBO crime drama “The Wire,” was remembered by his colleagues as an actor with a special talent for humanizing the characters he portrayed, bringing his own experience as a Black man growing in New York to his roles. Williams, who also won praise for his roles in “Boardwalk Empire,” “Bessie” and “Lovecraft Country,” was found dead in his Brooklyn apartment on Monday, the New York Police Department said. He was 54. An investigation into the cause of death is underway.
France mourns “immortal” Belmondo, will pay national tribute on Thursday
Fans and stars paid tribute to Jean-Paul Belmondo on Tuesday, saying the charismatic French actor, who died on Monday aged 88, would live on forever in people’s minds and on screen. Belmondo, who shot to international fame as a star of New Wave cinema after his breakthrough performance in Jean-Luc Godard’s “A bout de souffle” (“Breathless”) in 1959, had, for decades, been one of France’s most popular actors.
Kylie Jenner confirms in Instagram video she is pregnant with second child
U.S. model and media personality Kylie Jenner confirmed her second pregnancy on Tuesday night via an Instagram montage shared on her Instagram.
S.African animator fuses cartoon with reality in satellite debut
Self-taught South African 3D animator Lwazi Msipha wanted to create something for both grown-ups and kids, along the lines of The Simpsons, when he dreamed up the character that won him a coveted slot on satellite TV. So he hit on an idea: what if his children’s’ cartoon character were to accidentally get stuck in the adult real world? That notion forms the premise of ‘My Cartoon Friend’, which debuted on Cartoon Network in South Africa last month – the first of his compatriots to get a full 13-episode series.
In surprise move, Britney Spears’ father asks for conservatorship to end
Jamie Spears, the father of Britney Spears, on Tuesday asked a Los Angeles court to end the pop singer’s 13-year conservatorship, saying circumstances have changed in recent months. In an unexpected development, Jamie Spears, who in 2008 set up the court-sanctioned arrangement that governs the singer’s personal and business affairs, said in a court filing that he believed the judge should “now seriously consider whether this conservatorship is no longer required.”
France mourns ‘national treasure’ Belmondo, New Wave cinema star
Jean-Paul Belmondo, a star of France’s New Wave cinema after his breakthrough performance in Jean-Luc Godard’s “A bout de souffle” (“Breathless”) in 1959, has died. He was 88. The death of a leading figure in French cinema was felt across the country. President Emmanuel Macron tweeted that France had lost a “national treasure”.
Kate Hudson, Jeon Jong-seo star in tribute to outsiders ‘Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon’
Hollywood star Kate Hudson and South Korean actress Jeon Jong-seo play two outsiders on a collision course with their surroundings in Ana Lily Amirpour’s Venice Film Festival competition entry “Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon”. The fantasy adventure opens with Jeon’s mysterious Mona Lisa using supernatural powers to break free from the maximum-security wing of a mental asylum in New Orleans. Running away from the police she finds herself in the city’s raucous French Quarter where she comes to the rescue of exotic dancer and single mother Bonnie (Hudson) who in turn takes her in.
(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
