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FilmWeek

FilmWeek: ‘Men in Black: International,’ ‘Shaft,’ ‘The Dead Don't Die’ And A Look Back At Hollywood’s Biggest Flops

Tessa Thompson and Chris Hemsworth in Men In Black: International
Tessa Thompson and Chris Hemsworth in Men In Black: International
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Listen 48:07
Today on FilmWeek, Larry Mantle and KPCC film critics Amy Nicholson, Justin Chang and Charles Solomon review this weekend’s new movie releases and we take a look back at Hollywood's biggest flops.
Today on FilmWeek, Larry Mantle and KPCC film critics Amy Nicholson, Justin Chang and Charles Solomon review this weekend’s new movie releases and we take a look back at Hollywood's biggest flops.

Today on FilmWeek, Larry Mantle and KPCC film critics Amy Nicholson, Justin Chang and Charles Solomon review this weekend’s new movie releases and we take a look back at Hollywood's biggest flops.

FilmWeek: ‘Men in Black: International,’ ‘Shaft,’ ‘The Dead Don't Die’ And More

Listen 28:40
FilmWeek: ‘Men in Black: International,’ ‘Shaft,’ ‘The Dead Don't Die’ And More

Larry Mantle and KPCC film critics Amy Nicholson, Justin Chang and Charles Solomon review this weekend’s new movie releases.

CRITICS' HITS:

Amy:' 'Men in Black: International,' 'The Dead Don't Die,' 'American Woman' and 'The Raft'

Justin: 'Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese,' 'The Edge of Democracy' & 'The Reports On Sarah and Saleem'

Charles: 'Funan' & '5B'

MIXED FEELINGS:

Justin: 'Shaft' & 'Murder Mystery'

Guests:

Amy Nicholson , film critic for KPCC, film writer for The Guardian and host of the podcasts ‘ Unspooled ’ and the podcast miniseries “ Zoom ”; she tweets

Justin Chang , film critic for KPCC and the Los Angeles Times; he tweets

Charles Solomon, film critic for KPCC, Animation Scoop and Animation Magazine

After The Box Office Failure Of ‘Dark Phoenix,’ We Look Back At Hollywood’s Biggest Flops

Listen 18:53
After The Box Office Failure Of ‘Dark Phoenix,’ We Look Back At Hollywood’s Biggest Flops

Weeks before “Dark Phoenix” was released, things were looking bleak for the newest installment of Fox’s X-Men film series.

Early projections showed the film on track to gross around $50 million it’s opening weekend, lower than any other X-Men movie. When “Dark Phoenix” opened last week, it defied expectations – by doing significantly worse than anyone had predicted.

It earned a mere $32.8 million this past weekend. For comparison, that’s approximately half what it’s predecessor, “X-Men: Apocalypse”, earned in its first three days ($65.7 million) and a third of what “X-Men: Days of Future Past”’s bow ($90.8).

“Dark Phoenix” is on track to lose over $100 million dollars, a number matched by last years biggest box office bomb s “Mortal Engines” and “A Wrinkle In Time.”

2019 has seen a number of big films underperform at the box office, with wide releases like “UglyDolls”, “Poms”, “Hellboy” and “Serenity” losing money for their respective studios. All those films received negative reviews, but bad things also happen to good movies: “The Kid Who Would Be King”, released in January, has a 90% on RottenTomatoes but failed to make even half its $59 million budget back.

The Ringer’s editor-in-chief Sean Fennessey joins Larry and the critics to discuss some of the most notable box office bombs of all time, from “Ishtar” to “Heaven’s Gate” to “Battlefield Earth” and beyond.

Guests:

Sean Fennessey , editor-in-chief and chief content officer at the sports and pop culture website and podcast network The Ringer; he is also the host of The Big Picture podcast; he tweets

Amy Nicholson , film critic for KPCC, film writer for  The Guardian  and host of the podcasts ‘ Unspooled ’ and the podcast miniseries “ Zoom ”; she tweets 

Justin Chang , film critic for KPCC and the Los Angeles Times; he tweets 

Charles Solomon, film critic for KPCC,  Animation Scoop  and  Animation Magazine