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Box Office UPDATE: “Avengers: Infinity War” Flies to BIGGEST Opening Weekend Ever with $258.2 Mil US, Total Worldwide $630 Million

Roger Friedman
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Box Office UPDATE: “Avengers: Infinity War” Flies to BIGGEST Opening Weekend Ever with $258.2 Mil US, Total Worldwide $630 Million

MONDAY UPDATE: The US total was $258.2 million, way higher than originally thought.

 

SUNDAY: Disney was once a company known for animated movies. No more. Thanks to acquisitions of Marvel and LucasFilms, Disney now holds 8 of the top 10 opening weekends of all time.

“Avengers: Infinity War,” from Marvel, is now the BIGGEST opening weekend ever, beating two  “Star Wars” films from LucasFilms. “Infinity War” took in $250 million and is now the all time opening weekend box office take for any movie.

Including all countries worldwide, including theaters in Wakanda, “Infinity War” stands at $630 million since Wednesday.

Only one actual Disney film — last year’s live action “Beauty and the Beast” — is part of that top 10 now.

“Infinity War”– which really should be titled Part 1 — topped “Black Panther”‘s opening weekend by about $42 million. “Black Panther,” which was only released 10 weeks ago, was considered to be a phenomenon as it made its way to number 3 on the all time box office list.

SPOILER ALERT STOP READING NOW

But now the Black Panther himself, T’Challa, is dust in the wind thanks to the shocking ending of “Infinity War” along with several other signature Marvel characters. A bunch of them are turned to gray soot at the end of the movie, with no redemption in sight. Before that even happens, a few others are simply killed the old fashioned way, including Tom Hiddleston’s Loki and Paul Bettany’s Vision.

Ironically, the one Avenger everyone assumed would die– Chris Evans’s Captain America– is just fine, thank you. But his buddy, Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) isn’t so lucky.

The death toll is high in “Infinity War, Part 1.” After the credits, two more Marvel heroes become dust including Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury– and this years before he wore an eye patch. Some kind of time travel fix will have to retroactively reboot everyone or Disney-Marvel will suddenly lose its main revenue stream. It could be “Infinity War, Part 2” aka “Avengers 4,” will begin with Bob Iger and Alan Horn visiting a CGI young Stan Lee in the 1960s and breaking all his pencils!

 

Starless, Starless Night: Comedian Kathy Griffin is the Only Recognizable “Name” at the White House Correspondents Dinner

Roger Friedman
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Starless, Starless Night: Comedian Kathy Griffin is the Only Recognizable “Name” at the White House Correspondents Dinner

Once upon a time, the White House Correspondents Dinner was cheek by jowl filled with stars. Movie stars, TV stars, media stars, singing stars.

Tonight there is exactly one big star in the room– comedian Kathy Griffin, who less than a year was in scandal when she posted a picture of Donald Trump’s decapitated head.

Otherwise, the only two professional actors in the room went with the Creative Coalition. They are “Twin Peaks” star Madchen Amick, currently on “Riverdale,” and Steve Howey, from “Shameless.”

That’s it.

No star wants to be seen at the WHCD while Donald Trump is president. That’s not going to change even if Trump remains in office for 8 years. (Please, I’m wearing garlic to ward this off.) All the buzz is gone. All the glitz.

Just to compare: even in 2016, Obama’s final year, the guest list included Helen Mirren and Taylor Hackford, Aretha Franklin, Will and Jada Smith, Bryan Cranston, and Kerry Washington and Shonda Rhimes.

The last time yours truly went, in 2015, the place was full of stars, many of whom went on to the now-defunct Vanity Fair party.

Trump has certainly sucked the life out of Washington, if not the rest of the world.

PS I’m surprised no one invited Stormy Daniels. But maybe next year, after her case is heard.

Kanye West Wants to “Forgive” His Dead Mother’s Final Surgeon by Putting His Picture on the Cover of His New Album

Roger Friedman
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Kanye West Wants to “Forgive” His Dead Mother’s Final Surgeon by Putting His Picture on the Cover of His New Album

Kanye West’s lovely mother, a college professor named Donda West, died after complications from plastic surgery on November 10, 2007. She was 58. It was only after that that Kanye really went off the rails. He’s never been the same since then.

Now, in his latest barrage of Tweets, Kanye has sent out a copy of a Text he sent to someone declaring that he will put a picture of his mother’s plastic surgeon, Jan Adams, on the cover of his new album.

“I want to forgive and stop hating,” Kanye writes. But is that true? Putting Adams’s picture on the cover may not be legal, first of all. But if he did it, is Kanye really trying to achieve closure and peace? Or is he provoking a fight?

Kanye’s mom died of heart disease a day after Adams performed liposuction and breast reduction surgery. She walked out of the clinic where the surgery was performed when it was over, and was prescribed Vicodin.

The next day she suffered a heart attack and 911 was called.

“The final manner of death could not be determined,” the coroner said in a statement. “Multiple post-operative factors could have played a role in the death. The exact contribution of each factor could not be determined. There was no evidence of a surgical or anesthetic misadventure.”

According to a 2015 interview, Donda West went home against doctor’s advice to go to a rehab clinic. At home she took 20 Vicodins, vomited and choked to death on her own vomit. Also, she was five foot two, weighed a whopping 188 lbs. and suffered from high blood pressure and blood sugar.

Kanye may say he wants to forgive and forget — whatever, this week he was all about sending Hallmark type messages of love. But really, putting Dr. Adams on the cover his album will make the doctor a target. And West is not stupid enough not to know that.

Later today, Kanye decided that Parkland student Emma Gonzales was his “hero” and that he was “inspired” by her. She’d do well to ignore this and stay away from him until Kanye’s meds have been adjusted.

 

Books: Mark Strausman’s Been Feeding the Elite at Barneys For Years, Comfort Food at the Highest Level

Roger Friedman
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Books: Mark Strausman’s Been Feeding the Elite at Barneys For Years, Comfort Food at the Highest Level

It’s Saturday morning in Manhattan. For many that means preparing for brunch or a late lunch at Fred’s at Barney’s, the hottest spot in town for eons.

We owe Fred’s to the late Fred Pressman, the man who launched the real Barneys dozens of years ago downtown. The restaurant is named after him. But the rest of it– the food, the look, the buzz– belongs to Mark Strausman.

Once the chef at Pino Luongo’s celebrity haunts like Sapore di Mare (in the Hamptons) and Coco Pazzo, Mark left in the 90s and started his famous restaurant on East 21st St. and Broadway called Campagna. Sleek, comfortable and beige, Campagna quickly caught on as the favorite of tons of A listers and was a particular favorite of record biz chieftains. This was when there was a record biz. On most nights, you had to fight your way into Campagna, where Tommy Mottola and Mariah Carey were regular customers.

After Campagna closed, Mark was lured to Barneys in 1996, and the rest is history. There’s a Fred’s here, downtown at the new old store (or the old new store) and Chicago and one in Beverly Hills. On Tuesday night, a gang of notables gathered on the 9th floor of the main store to celebrate Mark’s first cookbook, The Freds at Barneys New York Cookbook, co-written with Susan Littlefield.

It doesn’t seem possible that Mark will let other people try making his sensational french fries, mouth watering chicken soup, or any of the other staples that bring the fans. But the book is so beautiful I’m just going to look at the pictures, read the stories, and then grab a Via to 60th and Madison. On Tuesday night, just access to these recipes brought out Al Roker, Broadway producer Jean Doumanian, famed designer Vera Wang, Fox 5’s Rosanna Scotto, designer Lisa Perry and husband Richard Perry (who owns Barneys) and about a hundred other Upper East Siders who wanted to learn if they could make the bolognese sauce at home.

Will we get it? Study this book. Mark says his cooking his for a “neighborhood coffee shop” and I realize he’s right– and that’s why it’s so popular has lasted so long. It’s comfort food on the highest level.

“Avengers: Infinity War” Has Colossal $106 Mil Opening, Second Biggest Opening Day, Heads for $240 Mil Weekend

Roger Friedman
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“Avengers: Infinity War” Has Colossal $106 Mil Opening, Second Biggest Opening Day, Heads for $240 Mil Weekend

“Avengers: Infinity War” just went through the roof with Thursday previews and a Friday that was Marvel-ous. The total is $106 million so far, with a $240 million weekend looking likely.

Remember, $39 million was plunked down on Thursday, but that means Friday still did $71 mil last night.

It’s the second biggest opening day in history, behind “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.”

With a worldwide take outside the US of more than $100 million through Thursday night, “Infinity War” is poised for huge huge huge reports.  At this rate, “Infinity War” could possibly give “Black Panther” a run for its money as the biggest Marvel movie and maybe on the all time list as well.

The good news is that audiences are coming back, and spreading good word even after the film’s earth shaking ending.

 

Kanye West Posts Fragments of Crap and Scrap as Something, Not Music, Whatever, While Nile Rodgers, Roger Daltrey, LL Cool J Elevate, Contribute to the World

Roger Friedman
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Kanye West Posts Fragments of Crap and Scrap as Something, Not Music, Whatever, While Nile Rodgers, Roger Daltrey, LL Cool J Elevate, Contribute to the World

If you want to hear it, you can here.

Is he mocking us? Is he mocking himself? Is he serious?

Who cares, really?

Kanye is not a composer. He samples music from other people. So he all he can compose are lyrics, or raps, which he hasn’t done here anyway.

He’s wasted a lot of our time and a lot of his time, frankly. Tonight I went to hear Nile Rodgers and Chic, with Roger Daltrey of the Who and LLCool J for Nile’s We Are Family Foundation. With Nile’s band, Daltrey sang “Behind Blue Eyes.,” “Baba O’Riley,” and “Who Are You?” It was bliss. LL Cool J performed his hits “Mama Said Knock You Out” and “Rock the Bells.”

Nile Rodgers is in a league of his own. His new edition of Chic is better than ever, and they ran through the group’s many disco hits like “Le Freak” and “Good Times,” played Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky” (which Nile helped write) and ended with a glorious “We Are Family” that had people of all kinds dancing and singing on stage. It was elevating.

All week Kanye West has been Tweeting aphoristic crap about love and hate and freedom, making stupid pronouncements to get attention. Then he ended the week with this three minute and twenty two second file of nonsense. All of this gets online traffic and makes fleeting headlines. But it’s garbage. And you realize  it when you’re in the presence of artists who make a difference in the world, have a huge library of material that moves and motivates.

Kanye’s week of hundreds of Tweets are mostly about making his clothing line HUGE. Who the f cares? The We Are Family Foundation is empowering youth all over the world, building schools, and doing good. LL Cool J is also running a foundation for kids, and Roger Daltrey is raising money for cancer research. They are actually doing something for the world. They are not wasting our time.

Come back in the morning, I’ll have some video from the show at the Hammerstein Ballroom. Bravo!

Martin Scorsese and Mel Brooks, Two New York Boys, Take Over Hollywood for the Night

Leah Sydney
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Martin Scorsese and Mel Brooks, Two New York Boys, Take Over Hollywood for the Night

“Avengers: Infinity War” Opens to HUGE $39 Mil Thursday Night, Biggest Ever for Super Hero Movie

Roger Friedman
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“Avengers: Infinity War” Opens to HUGE $39 Mil Thursday Night, Biggest Ever for Super Hero Movie

RECORD BREAKING “Avengers: Infinity War” opened to $39 million last night in previews, the biggest ever for a superhero movie.

Since last night will be counted with tonight, it’s possible Marvel will declare a $100 million opening night when all is said and done.

It was also the second highest Thursday ever posted, behind “Revenge of the Sith.” (Only it won’t be counted as a Thursday, even though…don’t get me started).

The movie also made $95 million from international markets from Wednesday and Thursday showings. Add that to the $39 mil US. We’re off and running!

Will “Infinity War” sustain itself to beat “Black Panther”? Hard to say, but I’d wager ‘no.’ But who knows? We’ll see.

Roseanne Ticket Sales Disaster as Seats for Maryland Show Next Month Go Begging at $39

Roger Friedman
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Roseanne Ticket Sales Disaster as Seats for Maryland Show Next Month Go Begging at $39

Roseanne Barr just finished up a short successful stand up tour in Canada while her show was booming in its reboot on ABC.

But now Roseanne is starting to book dates in the US and things are a little different. Her Vegas show for May 5th is sold out, but the venue only has 850 seats.

On May 12th in National Harbor, Maryland, it’s a different scene. The 3,000 seat MGM National Harbor is a sea of blue dots on Ticketmaster– meaning almost nothing is sold. On reseller vividseats.com you get in the door with a balcony ticket for $39. For fifty-one bucks you can sit down front and spread out. There are seats everywhere and on the reseller market, they’re dropping!

Roseanne is funny– I’d go see her for $51. But maybe the Maryland audience is tired of all the Trumpery. I don’t see why it would bother them– they did give us Spiro Agnew years ago!

I am amazed, by the way, how “real Americans” and red-staters have fallen for Roseanne’s “Republican” pitch. It’s hilarious. After the first episode build up, there’s been not one political joke or mention on the rest of the series. The show is run by people who are as anti-Trump as possible. But just that clever run up to the first episode convinced a whole daft segment of the population that “Roseanne” was going to be their savior. There were articles about how the networks would have to “reconsider” their shows. LOL.

 

 

Sting Plays Intimate Acoustic Set at The Met Museum, Is Moved Seeing His Lyrics as Part of Art Installation

Roger Friedman
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Sting Plays Intimate Acoustic Set at The Met Museum, Is Moved Seeing His Lyrics as Part of Art Installation

Sting– busy lately? He’s been a press tour for about 10 days promoting his hot album with Shaggy called “44/876.” It’s been in the top 20 all week on iTunes, amazon, etc.

So why not fulfill another commitment? On Tuesday, Wednesday, and last night the rock superstar played an intimate acoustic 45 minute set at the Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art in conjunction with their Thomas Cole-Hudson River School exhibition. Needless to say, the three shows — called “Atlantic Crossing” — were sold out (the room holds about 650) and the audiences were swooning. They heard selections from Sting’s musical “The Last Ship” (currently a hit in the UK in a new streamlined version) with which he intertwined growing up in Newcastle, England among shipbuilders.

Last night, as a little flourish, he included two encores (well, he had to) for a wildly enthusiastic, cheering, standing, clapping audience. t Leading the charge was Jerry Moss, founder of A&M Records with Herb Alpert, the label that Sting has recorded on solo and with the Police since 1978. The last songs were “Message in a Bottle” and “Englishman in New York.” It was pretty deliriously great to see Upper East Side financial guys in blue blazers and ladies in pearls singing back the lyrics.

But wait– the show was introduced by landscape artist Stephen Hannock, who is so famous he has six pieces in the Met. He’s also collaborated with Sting on a limited edition book from Two Ponds Press called “The Last Ship from the Northern City.” There are only 85 copies and they cost– a lot. You won’t find it in the Strand Bookstore. It’s a work of art for collectors. Now that the books are finally starting to come off press (slowly), The Met has set up a display in their Hudson River School section where Hannock’s “Oxbow” hangs with its antecedents.

But the Met has gone a step further. To Sting’s surprise, the lyrics to “The Last Ship” are placed in a case along with a Hannock woodcut print, under a famous painting by Thomas Chambers. “It blew me away,” Sting said, unexpectedly moved. “My lyrics in the Met! I couldn’t believe it.”

And now, back to Shaggy. Listen to Sting’s “If You Can’t Find Love” here.

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