Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Sisters and Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip open in movie theaters around St. Louis this weekend. Secret in Their Eyes, Black Mass and The Martian open at Keller 8, while We Are Your Friends and Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation are among the movies now available to rent at Redbox. Catch Star Wars: The Force Awakens starting tonight at  MX Movies in downtown St. Louis.

Don’t pay regular price for a ticket to see one of these new releases in the theater. Sign up now for MoviePass at MoviePass.com.

Recapping Last Weekend

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 topped the weekend box office for the fourth weekend in a row over the weekend. The final installment in the franchise brought in $11.4 million in its fourth weekend of release. In the Heart of the Sea was close behind for second place with just over $11 million in its debut. The Good Dinosaur brought in $10.3 million in its third weekend of release, good for third place. $10.1 million in in its third weekend of released brought Creed to over $70 million at the domestic box office. Krampus founded out the top five with $8.4 million in its second weekend of release.

The Martian brought in $1.5 million over the weekend, its 11th weekend of release, which brought its worldwide receipts to just shy of $590 million.

Opening This Weekend

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

For the last couple weeks or so, it’s been next to impossible to spend more than five minutes on the internet without seeing something about Star Wars: The Force Awakens. I’ve personally written posts about how to get ready for Star Wars: The Force Awakens and what to wear to Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The Los Angeles premiere earlier this week for the film was a spectacle like Hollywood has never seen before, with a quarter-mile-long tent encompassing three of the most famous movie theaters in the country. Those who saw the film at the premiere were forbidden to talk about the film until yesterday.

The reviews coming out now are overwhelmingly positive. Since the plot of the film has been kept so secret, let’s just go off the headlines of the reviews. The New York Times says the The Force Awakens “delivers the thrills, with a touch of humanity“. The Independent calls is “the sequel you’re looking for”. Johnny Oleksinski of the New York Post even has an article up with the headline of “Why The Force Awakens made me like the Star Wars prequels more“.

Box office predictions for Force are through the roof and all over the place at the same time. The largest theater chain in Britain has said they are selling tickets for the film at a rate of one per second. Todd M. Thatchers predicts an opening for Star Wars: The Force Awakens of $234.7 million. Some estimates from Disney come in as low as $170 million, although it’s almost guaranteed the new owner of the franchise is purposely projecting lower estimates.

Bloomberg has a great article out that points out that the original Star Wars film, A New Hope, made $512 million in 1977-78 when movie tickets, on average, were $2.23.

Want to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens in the most technologically advanced way possible? See it at the St. Louis Science Center.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer

Sisters

There actually are other films opening this weekend, surprisingly. You’ll definitely be in a less-full theater if you choose to see a movie without a character named Kylo Ren, if that’s something you prefer.  Amy Poehler and Tina Fey star in Sisters, which Scott Mendelson says “provides old-fashioned comedic relief“. A common theme in reviews of the film is praise for the chemistry between Poehler and Fey, some say it’s a reason to see the film, while others say the film-makers waste it. Fellow Saturday Night Live alumus Maya Rudolph has has a role in the film and even has an idea for a sequel.

Todd M. Thatcher predicts a $13.9 million opening for Sisters.

Sisters trailer

Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip

Do you have a fascination with Alvin and the Chipmunks like I have with the Step Up movies? This weekend probably feels for you like the majority of your Facebook friends feel about the Star Wars opening.

IGN does not feel the same way about Alvin. Max Nicholson makes it very clear that he is floored that this is the fourth movie in the current franchise. Other reviews also point out that the film is aimed at children and adults won’t find it as appealing as say, Inside Out or Hotel Transylvania 2.

Todd M. Thatcher predicts an opening of $14.3 million for Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip.

Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip trailer

Catch It Before It’s Gone

The Martian

The Martian, starring Matt Damon, will go down as one of the ten highest-grossing movies of 2015. With its theater run fading out after 10+ weeks in theaters, the film has made more that $223 million domestically and $588 million worldwide.

Keller 8 Cinema in South County is offering you one of your last chances to see it in theaters starting this weekend.

The Martian trailer

Make It A Redbox Night

We Are Your Friends

We Are Your Friends, starring Zac Efron, didn’t get much of a chance at movie theaters. It went from playing in 2,333 theaters its first two weeks to 274 in its third week and just 17 in its last. Overall, it sold roughly $3.6 million in tickets. I picked up the film last night from my local Redbox and thought it was decent and worth the money. Efron plays an aspiring EDM DJ and some of the more technical aspects of the film were pretty interesting.

Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation is also available this week at Redbox.

Redbox releases for the week of December 22, 2015 are War Room and A Walk In The Woods.

We Are Your Friends trailer

Entertainment News

Huge Big Bang Theory Moment Won’t Air Live In St. Louis Or Tampa Bay

On tonight’s episode of The Big Bang Theory, a HUGE moment is expected to happened between Sheldon and Amy. Unfortunately, fans in the Tampa Bay and St. Louis markets won’t be able to watch the episode live. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and St. Louis Rams will be playing tonight in what Twitter users have taken to calling “The Condiment Bowl” for the odd jerseys the teams will be wearing as part of the NFL’s “Color Rush” campaign.

The Big Bang Theory is scheduled to air very early tomorrow morning in the Tampa Bay area, but not until very early Saturday morning here in St. Louis.

Teaser Trailer Released For Netflix’s Fuller House

Netflix is giving fans the Full House sequel they’ve clamored for with Fuller House. They’ve announced that the show will premiere February 26, 2016 on the streaming service.

It was previously announced that the show will focus on the character of D.J. Tanner (Candace Cameron Bure) moving into the family’s old house with her three boys after her husband’s death.

The teaser trailer shows landmark scenes from the original Full House while Miranda Lambert’s “The House That Built Me” plays. A dog, which looks like Comet from the original show, runs to the front door of the empty home as voices of the original cast members can be heard seemingly unloading the car and getting ready to enter the home.

Fuller House teaser trailer

 

Point Break Media Screenings Canceled

The remake of 1991’s Point Break is scheduled to be released in theaters on Christmas Day. Press screenings of the film have been canceled by Warner Bros. The official reason was given as “unforeseen circumstances” while reports have said that the studio canceled the screenings because they would be too close to Christmas and the folks they’d want to see them won’t be able to. That’s probably not actually the reason. Considering Christmas is always on December 25 and the release date for the film has been know for months, “unforeseen circumstances” is pretty laughable.

Samuel L. Jackson Returning for xXx 3

Vin Diesel announced on his Facebook page that Samuel L. Jackson will be joining him on xXx 3. Jackson will reprise his role as the NSA’s Augustus Gibbons. Diesel starred in 2002’s XXX, but was absent from XXX: State of the Union. Ice Cube instead starred in the film with Jackson, which was nowhere near the box office success the original was. Diesel previously announced that he will return as Xander Cage for the third film, which will be directed by D.J. Caruso.

Michael B. Jordan Co-Writing Comic Book Series

Michael B. Jordan, who could be up for an Oscar for Creed, is planning to write an action/spy comic book series with Nathan Edmonson. The series will be called North and focus on a soldier who has his mind changed by an organization to become a “super-spy”

NBC To Re-Air Dolly Parton’s Coat Of Many Colors On Christmas Night

The hugely successful NBC production of Dolly Parton’s Coat of  Many Colors will be re-broadcast on Christmas night by the network. The tv movie gained a crazy 2.5 million+ viewers when Nielsen took into account viewers who watched the movie via streaming, on-demand and DVR services in the three days after the initial airing.

The movie will air at 8 pm CST on December 25.

Fox To Air Live Musical Hosted By Tyler Perry

Fox has announced a live musical event hosted and narrated by Tyler Perry, set to air March 20, 2016. The Passion will be a musical event that focus on the story of Jesus of Nazareth from the Last Supper to his resurrection. The scenes will be filmed live at iconic locations around New Orleans .

The Passion was created in the Netherlands in 2011 and has been performed there annually since.

LL Cool J Set To Host Grammy Awards In 2016

The Recording Academy is bringing LL Cool J back for a fifth time to host The Grammy Awards on February 15, 2016 on CBS.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot Trailer

Tina Fey, Billy Bob Thorton and Margot Robbie star in Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, hitting theaters on March 4, 2016

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot trailer

 

Macaulay Culkin Returns As Kevin  McAllister For :DRYVRS

Macaulay Culkin stars in the first episode of Jack Dishel’s web series :DRYVRS. Culkin plays a ride-share driver that picks Jack Dishel’s character. Macauley is clearly playing a grown-up version of Kevin Mcallister, his character in Home Alone.

Warning: This may be NSFW for some workplaces.

Macaulay Culkin on :DRYVRS

 

Brought to you by Mills Apartments