American Ultra, Hitman: Agent 47 and Sinister 2 open in theaters this weekend around St. Louis. You can catch Sinister 2 at MX Movies downtown this weekend.

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Recapping Last Weekend

Straight Outta Compton blew away expectations last weekend and now Box Office Mojo is reporting that the film on N.W.A.’s rise made $60.2 million in its opening weekend.Mission: Impossible – Rouge Nation brought in $17.2 million in its third weekend of release and The Man From U.N.C.L.E. made $13.4 million in its debut to round out the top three.

Fantastic Four has underwhelmed at the box office, taking in $8.2 million in its second weekend of released and $44 million domestically thus far. It’s been helped by overseas ticket sales of close to $60 million thus far. Despite the poor reviews, I saw it last night and enjoyed. It was a bit campy at times but then again, it’s a superhero movie after all.

The Gift rounded out the top five with $6.5 million in its second weekend of release. The thriller has now made $25.3 million in under two full weeks of release on a budget of just $5 million.

 

American Ultra

Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart reunite in the stoner action-comedy American Ultra. The film also stars Connie Britton, Topher Grace and John Leguizamo. Stewart brought Taylor Lautner along to the LA premiere of the film, although he’s not in Ultra. Deadline praises Eisenberg’s performance in American Ultra. Westword calls the film “smart at being dumb“. The Atlantic called Eisenberg’s character “the perfect action hero“.

Variety predicts that American Ultra will bring in around $7 million this weekend.

 

Hitman: Agent 47

Hitman: Agent 47 was not a hit with A.V. Club. IGN liked the latest adaptation of the video game franchise. The Guardian went a little far in their review, calling Hitman “an idiotic mess with gory flair“. Geek.com gives the film starring Rupert Fiend and Hannah Ware “a solid 7“. Fiend is engaged to Aimee Mullins, a former Paralympics competitor who once held world records in three different track and field events and is has since gone on to be an advocate for women in sports as well as a successful model. The pair attended the premiere of Hitman: Agent 47.

Sinister 2

The original Sinister made $77.7 million worldwide on a budget of $3 million back in 2012. Numbers like that just about guarantee a sequel. Sinister 2 centers on a single mother that moves herself and her twin sons into a country house “marked for death“. Shannyn Sossamon stars as the single mother. You may remember her from A Kinght’s Tale back in 2001 where she kissed the late Heath Ledger. She also played Theresa Burke in the recent mini-series Wayward Pines. Dartanian Sloan and Robert Daniel Sloan play the twin boys. The brothers and sister Anastasia are triplets. James Ransone returns from the original Sinister, though now he’s an ex-deputy.

Catch It Before It’s Gone

Keller 8 in South County, a second-run theater, welcomes Magic Mike XXL this weekend. The Channing Tatum-led sequel has made $65.6 million in domestic theaters and $117.4 million worldwide thus far during its theater run. The budget for the sequel was doubled, but while XXL can still be considered a financial success, it will fail to hit the original’s $167 million 2012 haul.

Make It A Redbox Night

Among the new releases this week Redbox welcomes Hot Pursuit with Reese Witherspoon and Sofia Vergara. In what may have been an effort to pump the film’s Redbox release, Vergara, who is engaged to Magic Mike XXL stud Joe Manganiello recently talked to The Daily Mail about her breasts and her desire to get “fake boobs”.

Stay away from Strangerland. Despite starring Nicole Kidman and Joseph Fiennes it’s gotten terrible reviews. One movie that is getting mixed reviews is Every Secret Thing with Diane lane, Elizabeth Banks and Dakota Fanning. Check out the trailer below.

Movie News

Masters of The Universe Reboot Coming To The Big Screen

Christopher Yost has been hired by Sony Pictures and Escape Artists to rewrite the script for the reboot of Master of the Universe. He-Man, Yost previously wrote Thor: The Dark World and also the script for the sequel, Thor: Ragnarok, which hits theaters in 2017. Skeletor and the crew were last in theaters back in 1987 with Dolph Lundgren playing He-Man and Frank Langella playing Skeletor. The film was also one of the first film roles for Courtney Cox, who was just three years removed from her role in the classic music video for Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing In the Dark”.

As you can see from the trailer below for the 1987 Masters of the Universe, it was super cheesy. Speaking of cheesy, the Twilight Saga fan fiction series that became Fifty Shades Of Grey was called Master of the Universe.

 

Dwayne Johnson To Star In Disney Movie Based On Theme Park Ride

Dwayne Johnson has signed on to star in an as-yet-untitled Disney movie based on its Jungle Cruise theme park ride. Disney is also currently developing a movie starring Ryan Gosling based on its “Haunted Mansion” attraction.

Disneyland’s Jungle Cruise attraction was one of the first attractions built at the park back in 1955.

No word on the plot of the movie yet, but could it revolve around the animatronic animals coming to life?

Jurassic World Writer Brought On For Kong: Skull Island

Derek Connolly, a co-screenwriter on Jurassic World, has been hired to work with Universal and Legendary on the script for Kong: Skull Island. The script has largely already been written and shooting will begin in October in Hawaii. The crew will also film in Iceland and Vietnam, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The movie starring Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson and Corey Hawkins is set to hit theaters on March 10, 2017.

Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse Trailer

Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse looks utterly ridiculous and comes to theaters this Halloween.

Warning: This red band trailer comes with a NSFW tag so you may have to sign in to view it.

 

High Praise For Star Wars: The Force Awakens From Drew Struzan

Poster artist Drew Struzan recently sat down with Movie Weekly in Australia to talk after debuting some exclusive poster art at the Disney D23 Expo in Anaheim. Struzan, who said his favorite poster art he’s ever done was for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, came out of retirement to create the poster for Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Struzan said in the interview that he has read the script for The Force Awakens and seen maybe half the somewhat-finished product. His takeaway? “Honest to god, it is far and away probably going to be The Best Star Wars you’ve ever seen”.

Regal Cinemas Starts Bag Checks

Regals Cinemas became the first large theater chain to announce that it will institute bag checks at its theaters. The move comes in light of the July theater shooting in Lafayette, Louisiana.

Victor Frankenstein Trailer

Daniel Radcliffe and James McAvoy star in Victor Frankenstein, in theaters November 25, 2015.

 

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