World Movie News: The Last 24 Hours
US Television lost a beloved face over the weekend; Wicker Man sequel director passes young and there’s a first look at what’s coming after the multiplexes finally gets some air back in their lungs.
Here’s what’s happened in film and entertainment over the last 24 hours.
Television is mourning Vincent Pastore, best known to millions as Salvatore “Big Pussy” Bonpensiero on HBO’s “The Sopranos”, who died Saturday at 80. Pastore, a New York native who didn’t break into acting full-time until his 40s, went on to appear in “Goodfellas”, “This Thing of Ours” and a long run of guest spots after “The Sopranos” ended, and remained a fixture on the convention circuit right up to his death. Tributes have been coming in from castmates on both sides of the Atlantic, where the show retains a huge cult following on Sky and NOW.
British film is mourning one of its own too: Justin Hardy, the Bafta- and Emmy-nominated writer-director, died on Friday night at 61 after suffering a heart attack, his family confirmed. Hardy had just completed “Wrath of the Gods”, the concluding chapter of the Wicker Man trilogy begun by his late father, Robin Hardy, and due to premiere at FrightFest in Leicester Square on August 28. He and his brother Dominic also co-directed the 2024 documentary “Children of the Wicker Man”, examining their father’s complicated legacy, and Hardy had a long career making historical films and documentaries for the BBC, Channel 4 and CNN, alongside teaching screenwriting at UCL. He’s survived by his wife, Larissa, and their four children.
On the release side, it’s a quieter week before next weekend’s bigger UK/US changeover: horror fans can catch Eli Roth’s slasher “Ice Cream Man” (which from the trailer looks intriguing). That opens in the US this week ahead of a UK date later in August. Also one to watch for, “Coyote vs. ACME” — the Warner Bros. film infamously shelved in 2023 for a tax write-off — has finally been confirmed for cinemas on both sides of the pond on August 28 after finding a home with Ketchup Entertainment.
The opening weekend for “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” continues to look strong. The opening weekend predictions (I’m never sure why this “weekend” figure predicts the Sunday box office… why not just wait for it!?) are for the second-biggest domestic debut of all time, landing somewhere between $325 million and $358 million over three days — challenging “Avengers: Endgame”‘s $357.1 million record. The $168 million Friday (including previews) was the single biggest day in US box office history outright. Globally the film is closing in on the $1 billion mark after barely a week in release, helped by strong holds in the UK, where Odeon and Cineworld reported some of their best weekends of the year after the Tuesday, July 29 opening, and a mid-week start in China.
Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey”, also starring Tom Holland, Zendaya and Jon Bernthal, held remarkably well in its third weekend with roughly $51–52 million, pushing its US total past $395 million.
News tomorrow on how the actual weekend box office numbers fell. But it feels a very good time to be a cinema-owner.
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