“Cinderella” enchants the weekend box office!

Playing at 3,845 locations, Disney’s live-action reboot, “Cinderella” enchanted audiences this weekend, racking up a royal $70.1 million to lead the domestic box office and a massive $132 million globally. Demographically,  weekend crowds were 68% female, 66% families and 31% comprised of moviegoers under the age of 12.

That ranks sixth all-time among March debuts. Compared to Disney’s recent live-action fantasies, Cinderella’s opening was on par with Maleficent ($69.4 million), and a bit lower than Oz The Great and Powerful ($79.1 million). It also opened well above Snow White and the Huntsman ($56.2 million).

Aside from its rave reviews (earning it 84% on Rotten Tomatoes), Cinderella’s secret weapon, of course, is the seven-minute Frozen Fever short that’s running ahead of the movie. Frozen earned over $400 million a year ago, and the phenomenon has only grown in the time since then. Disney’s marketing campaigns did an admirable job getting the word out about Frozen Fever, and it is absolutely translated to ticket sales this weekend.

In addition to “Maleficent,” “Cinderella” follows several other successful Disney reimaginings of classic animated titles: 2010’s “Alice in Wonderland” and 2013’s “Oz The Great and Powerful.”

“Alice” bowed to a record-breaking $116.1 million and went on to haul in over $1 billion worldwide, while “Oz” debuted to $79.1 million and ultimately grossed $493.3 million (underperforming overseas). Disney also has a “Beauty and the Beast” update on the horizon.

All these films had budgets at least twice the size of “Cinderella’s” $95 million, with That of “Oz” coming in at $215 million.

Cinderella is the latest Disney classic to get a live-action retelling, following 2014’s box-office hit Maleficent and preceding Beauty and the Beast in 2016.

The film is expected to waltz past $65 million in its opening weekend.

Here is some of what top critics are saying about Cinderella:

“The color, vibrancy and unabashedly romantic heart explode off the screen in Cinderella,” The Hollywood Reporter’s David Rooney raves, adding, “The studio’s opulent update is enhanced by sumptuous physical craftsmanship as well as the limitless possibilities of what CG technology can achieve.” He writes that James plays her part with “unaffected sweetness” and notes that Blanchett’s “feline malevolence is priceless.” According to Rooney, this Cinderella has mass appeal. “Anyone nostalgic for childhood dreams of transformation will find something to enjoy in an uplifting movie that invests warm sentiment in universal themes of loss and resilience, experience and maturity,” he writes.

The New Yorker’s Anthony Lane writes,  Branagh has delivered a construction project so solid, so naive, and so rigorously stripped of irony that it borders on the heroic. ” He also writes, “as for the costumes, I imagine that the Academy Award already has Powell’s name on it, and has been shoved in a drawer until she can swing by and pick it up next year.”

Chicago Tribune’s Michael Phillips calls it “satisfying” and “refreshingly free of all snark,” as it “reveals Branagh to be a workmanlike wrangler of digitized fantasy.”

The New York Observer’s Rex Reed writes, “Let’s be honest. There is no denying the fact that this is the best Cinderella of them all.”

The Guardian’s Guy Lodge notes, “Blanchett is certainly the best thing in Branagh’s perky, pretty, lavender-scented cupcake of a fairytale adaptation.”

 USA Today’s Clauda Puig praises the film, writing, “With its vibrant sparkle and enchanting visuals, Cinderella almost makes you believe in magic. The oft-told story has a surprisingly fresh exuberance.”

Us Weekly’s Mara Reinstein writes that Branagh “keeps his film old-fashioned and, well, a little safe.” While “some may quibble that this kind of snark-free narrative is hopelessly dated in 2015,” she writes, “That’s what makes this rendition so charming and timeless.” Best of all, she marvels, “the prince’s fete is a visual feast,” adding, “Cinderella’s grand entrance proves why she’s the ultimate belle of the ball.”

 

 

 

 

The answer is YES!  It’s offical: “Frozen 2” is in development at Walt Disney Animation Studios with directors Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee and producer Peter Del Vecho, the Oscar®-winning filmmaking team behind “Frozen.”

The news was announced at Disney’s Annual Meeting of Shareholders  by Bob Iger, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Walt Disney Company; John Lasseter, Chief Creative Officer of Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios.

A release date and production details are on ice for now.

 

The second installment of  Disney Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy 2” will be filmed in Atlanta, Georgia as indicated by the film’s director James Gunn.

It is a good bet that the film will likely shoot at the Pinewood Atlanta Studios in Fayetteville, Ga., which has been the past home to other Marvel movies such as “Ant-Man.” The first “Guardians of the Galaxy” was filmed in the United Kingdom at Longcross Studios and Shepperton Studios, the latter of which is part of U.K.-based Pinewood Studios Group.

The first “Guardians” was 2014 summer blockbuster crushing box-office records by  taking in over $333 million domestically and $774.2 million worldwide  (Boxofficemojo.com),

The second installment is slated to be in  theaters on May 5, 2017.

Following the “Amazing”  Marvel and Sony announcement  to bring Spider-Man to the Marvel Cinematic Universe some changes have been made to  the MCU “Phase 3″.

As the untitled Spider-Man reboot has taken Thor: Ragnarok’s release date, that movie will now reach us on November 3rd, 2017. Black Panther meanwhile will make its way to cinemas on July 6th, 2018, leaving Captain Marvel to follow on November 2nd, 2018. Inhumans will then hit the big screen on July 12th, 2019.

Basically,  each of these movies has been backed up  a spot.

Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 and Avengers: Infinity War Part 2 will still be released on May 4th, 2018 and May 3rd, 2019, respectively. Nothing has changed there. You have to imagine that Spider-Man will appear in one or both of those now, making them both even more exciting for comic book fans.

Going back to that Spider-Man movie, it appears that Andrew Garfield is out as the Web-slinger. Drew Goddard’s Sinister Six (which was set to be released next year) has also been cancelled, but Sony are said to be looking for a way to make it fit into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe just got a whole lot more exciting!