For the second week in a row, Onward stayed number one in the box office earning $10.5 million over the weekend. This increases the overall earning of Pixar’s latest movie to a total domestic estimate of $60.3 million. I Still Believe, takes the second spot earning $9.5 million, and Bloodshot earned $9.3 million in its debut. While these are decent numbers, it is important to point out that Onward is the only movie to break $10 million this week. Onward‘s failure screams at a more significant issue that has affected the box office for the last few weeks; no one is going to the theater. As reported by Variety, this weekend is the lowest weekend box office in the last 20 years. Box office numbers have not been this low since Sept. 15 to 17 weekend in 2000, with a box office take of only $54.5 million.
What is important to understand about the movie industry is that as technology evolves, so do movies. As such movie budgets grow, the best example is Avengers: Endgame with a budget of $356 million, the movie grossed $2.8 billion, making it the highest-grossing film of all time beating James Cameron’s Avatar. Last year alone, there was the most significant number of movies to break the 1 billion mark, Aladin, Star Wars Rise of Skywalker, Toy Story 4, Captain Marvel, Frozen II, Lion King, and Avengers: Endgame. Overall, Disney had seven movies to break a billion dollars, jump one year later, and Onward bearly breaks $100 million. As we reported before the coronavirus has caused massive theater close-downs across multiple countries impacting the economy.
Thousands of people across the globe have been diagnosed with Coronavirus or COVID-19. As the virus continues to spread, many nations and states have declared states of emergencies, with some even going into lockdown. As the pandemic continues to grow in the US, organizers of large public gatherings are being forced to make a decision on whether or not to cancel or postpone their scheduled events. Major entertainment industries such as broadway, music, and sports have been forced to pull the plug on their events as states have begun to prohibit the gathering of large amounts of people. Governor Cuomo of New York has decided to close all places with a legal occupancy of 500 people or more. Places such as Madison Square Garden, Barclays Center, Avant Gardner, Webster Hall, Brooklyn Steel, Terminal 5 and more, will be closed until further notice.
Yesterday (March 12), was probably one of the heaviest days, as festivals, concerts, and music festivals seemed to be getting cancelled or postponed left and right. All Live Nation and AEG tours have been postponed until further notice. EDC Las Vegas will continue with their plans for May 2020, but officials are monitoring the situation day by day. Festivals such Lollapaloozza, Bonnaroo, Tomorrowland and Governor’s Ball which are all set to take place between June and July have not made comments yet.
It’s truly a sad time for the music world (and the world in general of course) as we are at the brink of festival season. Here is a list of festivals, shows, and tours that have been cancelled or postponed so far (as of the morning of March 13).
Festivals:
Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival: April 10 to 12, April 19 to 19 postponed to Oct. 9 to 11, Oct. 16 to 18
Beyond Wonderland SoCal: March 20 to 21, postponed until June 19 to 20.
South by SouthWest: March 13 to 22 cancelled
Ultra Music Festival: March 20 to 22 cancelled
Tomorrowland Winter: March 14 to 21 cancelled
Bassnectar’s Deja Voom: March 25 to 28 cancelled
Get Lucky Fest: March 13 to 14 cancelled
StageCoach: April 24 to 26, postponed until Oct. 23 to 15.
Big Ears Festival: March 26 to 29 cancelled
Days of Summer Cruise Fest: June 28 to July 1 cancelled
BPM Miami Festival: postponed
Treefort Music Festival: March 25 to 29, postponed until Sept. 23-27
Concerts & Tours:
Billie Eilish, Where Do We Go World Tour: postponed March dates
Blood Orange: cancelled March 2020 North American dates
Maluma, Maluma 11:11 WORLD TOUR 2020: Cancelled remaining European dates.
Kayzo, spring tour: cancelled
Jauz, Dangerous Waters Tour, remaining dates: postponed until further notice
Action Bronson: postponed upcoming tour dates.
Dan + Shay: postponed Spring tour leg.
Bob Dylan: Japan dates postponed until further notice
Iggy Pop, France Tour: postponed until further notice
My Chemical Romance, Japan Tour: postponed until further notice
Rage Against the Machine, first leg of tour: postponed until further notice
Pearl Jam, North American Tour: postponed until further notice
Madonna, Madonna X Tour: cancelled
BTS, Map of the Soul Tour-Seoul: cancelled
Green Day, Asian Tour: postponed until further notice
Zac Brown Band, remains dates: postponed until further notice.
Yes, US dates: cancelled
Rezz, Relentless Beat: cancelled
Ekali, select shows: cancelled
Wilco: postponed until further notice
Carlos Santana, Miraculous 2020 Tour, European leg: cancelled
Pussy Riot: postponed until further notice
The Who, UK and Ireland Tour: postponed until further notice
Courtney Love & Melissa Auf der Maur: postponed
Chris Stapleton: postponed next two weeks of dates
I had the honor to attend Fueled by Culture Presents POWERSHIFT, a book launch event where author, entrepreneur, and star of ABC’s Shark Tank Daymond John talk about his journey creating his clothing brand and how those struggles inspired him to write his latest book. Before the show began, I had the pleasure of meeting other influencers and self-made entrepreneurs who were also looking for advice on how to persevere and grow their companies. The atmosphere was welcoming, and you could tell that everyone here was ready to learn from a man that was able to find success and willing to share his knowledge.
SVA Theatre NYC/ Photo by R.Martin
As the event began, Daymond John sat down to discuss the story behind his largest enterprise FUBU, his clothing line centered around American Hip Hop apparel. Daymond Johnsaw a market, not by advertising to the hip hop artists themselves, but by advertising to the people around the artist such as bodyguards. The idea was simple, to have everyone around an artist wear the same gear so that the artist would start to see the appeal and begin to wear the apparel himself. The shirts were advertised as double XL, as it was the style of the time, this allowed FUBU to reach two markets, the regular artist who wore larger shirts, and the more heavyset individual, tackling both markets at the same time is what allowed the brand to grow.
Fueled by Culture Presents POWERSHIFT/ Photo by R.Martin
It wasn’t all smooth sailing asDaymond would explain, “I needed to turn my house into a factory, I sold everything, my mom moved out, I rented out the rooms, and had to sleep on the floor. I did all this so that the rest of the house could be turned into a factory to print out shirts.” He also never left his job in Red Lobster to maintain a constant financial flow. Not only that, but with the help of other Red Lobster employees, he was able to network and move his merchandise.
Daymond John, also reflected on the current world and how social media is the largest platform to start influencing. “The danger of social media,” Daymondexplained, “social media is not about how many followers you have, but what you bring to the table before you approach anyone.” Basically, you must have a brand for yourself before you can call yourself an influencer.
He also talked about the power of negotiation, and the essential rules to be able to get the most out of negotiating. Daymond John explained when he partnered with Samsung to expand his FUBU brand; he needed to convince Samsung to maintain the same price for his product, despite Samsung wanting to lower the costs to compete with other brands. Daymond John explained, “the rule of negotiation is to figure out what is in the best interest of both parties.”
I'm doing it again.
Pre-order FIVE copies of my new book #Powershift and I'll follow you, AND record a personalized video answering a question you have for me.
Overall, Fueled by Culture Presents POWERSHIFT, was an empowering look at the mind of Daymond John, a man who managed to work hard and find success. Not by luck, but by educating himself and understanding that you need to create a brand for yourself. Even after all the struggles, you will be able to POWERSHIFT into greater success.
The saga of Harvey Weinstein seems to be coming to an end, as the disgraced former movie publisher has been sentenced to 23 years in NY prison. Weinstein was charged for third-degree rape and a criminal sex act as he maintained he simply had consensual “extramarital affairs” with the victims. For a more detailed breakdown of the case, you can take a look at our article.
Harvey Weinstein John Minchillo / AP file
On Wednesday, March 11, 2020, the jury ruled to sentence Weinstein to a 23 years sentence to be served in a NY prison. Weinstein was convicted on February 24. Before Wednesday’s final hearing, Weinstein was caught reportedly telling the court he was going through “hell on earth” and was “really trying to be a better person,” this was his final attempt to try to recive a lighter sentence.
Before issuing his sentence, Judge Burke told Weinstein that he will be formally registered as a sex offender. For his conviction on the first-degree count of criminal sexual act, Weinstein was given 20 years in prison plus five years of supervised release. On the other convicted charge, third-degree rape, he was given three years in prison.
Before the sentencing Weinstein attorney Donna Rotunno told the judge, “Mr. Weinstein has a multitude of medical issues, there are lists of things that are physically wrong with him and are serious,” said Rotunno, reading a letter highlighting his medical issues. “Mr. Weinstein has a history of heart disease in his family. This is a situation that the loss of freedom…will affect his ability to get the type of medical care he will need for the list of issues he is dealing with.”
In response to the sentencing, Tina Tchen, president and CEO of the Time’s Up Foundation, issued the following statement: “First and foremost, we are grateful for the courage and strength of Mimi Haleyi, Jessica Mann, Annabella Sciorra, Dawn Dunning, Tarale Wulff, and Lauren Young, who bravely testified in court, and we remain in solidarity with the more than 100 survivors who suffered abuse, harassment, and rape at the hands of Harvey Weinstein. The trauma of sexual assault and harassment is lifelong — we can only hope that today’s sentence brings all of the survivors of Harvey Weinstein some measure of peace.”
The statement continued: “We also hope that these women take pride in knowing the impact they have had on our culture at large. Whether by inspiring more survivors to come forward and seek help, changing how the justice system responds to sexual violence, or leading corporate boards to hold more CEOs accountable for toxic workplace culture, the social change catalyzed by these survivors has been nothing short of transformational.”
As mentioned before in our other article, the trail of Harvel Weinstein is one of the most significant movements of the last five years. Not only to the film industry, but the #METOO has had a long-lasting effect on business and politics. While the end of Weinstein’s trial marks the end of what started this movement, the #METOO movement is still going forward and will be seen as an essential movement in our culture going forward.
Kendrick Lamar has revealed he has a new project in the works, but it’s not what most fans were expecting. While most of us were hoping for a new album, Lamar has instead shared with us a teaser for his new company pgLang, with frequent collaborator Dave Free.
The Compton rapper made the announcement with a series of post as well as with a 4 minute visual mission statement. The short film is written and directed by Free and stars Lamar, Baby Keem, Yara Shahidi, and Jorja Smith, and features new music from Baby Keem, Florence Welch, and Kamasi Washington. “When you are identified with something your are not, it always leads to suffering and unhappiness,” a distorted voice tells us.
Upon visiting their website, we continue to learn that pgLang is a “service company,” specializing in music, film, television, art, books, and podcasts. Their mission is to deliver “stories that speak to many nations, many races, and many ages.” PgLang is a company comprised of writers, singers, directors, musicians, and producers that are breaking formats when building ideas to make them real.
“We embrace the idea of anarchy and challenges that make us stronger,” the statement continues “pgLang is focused on using our experiences, and nurturing our many collaborators, to build stories that are equally accessible and engaging and then fitting them within the best media.”
That is all Lamar has provided us with so far, but Free further explained that “in this overstimulated time, we are focused on cultivating raw expression from grassroots partnerships.”
The rumor mill is spinning again this time for Thor: Love and Thunder. The fourth Thor movie is set the shake up the formula bigger than Thor: Ragnarock did. Takai Watiti is back to direct the latest Thor movie, with a Natalie Portman returning (after being gone since Thor 2), and Tessa Thompson also returning as Valkyrie. The plot revolves around Valkyrie now in charge of Asgard, after Thor left to join the Guardians of the Galaxy, she is in search for a new queen.
While making the rounds to promote his new movie Bloodshot, Vin Diesel in an interview with Comicbook.com was ask if we would see the Guardians of the Galaxy in Thor: Love and Rock. He responded, “Thor will also, the director talked to me about Thor will incorporate some of the Guardians of the Galaxy,” Diesel told ComicBook.com. “That’ll be very interesting, nobody knows, maybe I shouldn’t have said anything.”
Vin Diesel in the press room for People”s Choice Awards 2016 – Press Room, The Microsoft Theater (formerly Nokia Theatre L.A. Live), Los Angeles, CA January 6, 2016. Photo By: Emiley Schweich
While this might not mean anything, it is important to point out that despite being called Thor: Love and Thunder, the movie centers around Valkyrie. However, in the comic, Jane (Natalie Portman’s character) took on the mantle of Thor, this could fit into the return of Jane in the movie. It is also important to point out that this would mark the first appearance of the Guardians after Avengers Endgame. The planed Guardians 3 was scrapped after director James Gunn was removed from the project. However, after fan backlash, Gunn returned to film the movie. As of now, there is no release date for the third Guardians, but James Gunn tweet wrapping up production on Suicide Squad 2 (a DC film). What do you guys think? Should the Guardians appear in Thor: Love and Rock, or should we wait for an actual stand-alone film.
Thor: Love and Thunder is set to release November 5, 2021 and is directed by Taika Waititi. Starting Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, and Tessa Thompson
