Weekend box office news… James Cameron’s huge announcement… “Empire” costars were married… Prince’s emergency landing… and Surprise performances at Coachella
“The Jungle Book” had a huge opening this weekend with $103.6 million — the number two opening of all time for the month of April behind last year’s “Furious 7” with its $146.2 million. Coming in second this weekend was “Barbershop 3” with $20.2 million. And Melissa McCarthy’s “The Boss” was third with $10.2 million.
James Cameron made a huge announcement at CinemaCon. There will be FOUR “Avatar” sequels instead of the previously planned three. James said that as he was planning the three sequels, he found it limiting. He explained that they “began to bump up against the limitations for our art form” and said that he needed all four sequels to tell the whole story. While each of the four sequels will be able to stand alone, James said that together, they will create a saga. His goal is to release “Avatar 2” at Christmas 2018 and then a new film in 2020, 2022 and 2023. The original “Avatar” was released in 2009 and earned $2.8 billion worldwide.
Boo Boo Kitty got married! “Empire” costars Trai Byers (Andre Lyons) and Grace Gealey (Anika Calhoun, aka “Boo Boo Kitty”) were married in a private ceremony in a mansion on Grand Cayman Island Thursday. Grace made the announcement on Instagram yesterday, “We’re married! God is so good. To all who have extended congrats and well wishes, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Love, Mr. & Mrs. Byers.” It was a small wedding — only about 50 people were invited. A source told E!News that some cast members from “Empire” were there but didn’t say who.
Prince’s private plane had to make an emergency landing early Friday after a concert in Atlanta. He was rushed to the hospital to be treated for a severe case of the flu. After a few hours, he got back on his plane and went home. But to prove to everyone that he’s doing okay, he showed up around midnight at a dance party at Paisley Park. He didn’t sing, but told the crowd to “wait a few days before you waste any prayers.”
Lots of surprise performances at Coachella this weekend. Friday’s opening night was so windy that A$AP Rocky was forced to start his show 20 minutes late. So when Kanye West made a surprise appearance towards the end of A$AP’s set, the sound guys killed the mics but they kept on rapping in silence for almost two minutes. They finally shrugged and walked off. Other surprise appearances this weekend included Rihanna popping up during Calvin Harris’ set…Kesha taking the stage with Zedd to sing his “True Colors”…and AC/DC’s Angus Young joining Guns N’ Roses after it was confirmed that Axl Rose will be the lead singer for AC/DC for the rest of their tour.
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