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M3GAN 2.0 hits theaters this week. We must ask, is M3gan the heir to Chucky's quirky crown? Or is this Betsy getting a little wetsy? Read on for our review.
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Forbes
40 minutes ago
- Forbes
‘F1' Tops Box Weekend Office Charts And Could Become Apple Studios' Biggest Hit
Topline 'F1,' Apple Original Films' new Formula One racing movie starring Brad Pitt, topped the box office charts over the weekend—the first major hit in theaters for the tech giant's film and television production studios. "F1" Director Joseph Kosinski and stars Brad Pitt, Kerry Condon, and Damson Idris arrive at the ... More film's premiere. 2025 Invision Key Facts 'F1' grossed $55.6 million at the domestic box office over the weekend, according to advance numbers published in multiple Hollywood trade publications, as well as an additional $88.4 million worldwide and $10 million from previews. The movie has still not earned back its hefty budget of $200 million, and will need to keep drawing viewers to theaters in the upcoming weeks to make a profit. 'M3GAN 2.0,' the sequel to the surprise 2022 horror hit 'M3GAN,' bombed at its opening weekend, bringing in only $10.2 million at the box office and finishing behind holdovers including 'How To Train Your Dragon.' Key Background Apple Studios has produced several noteworthy films in the past five years, including Martin Scorsese's over three-hour-long 'Killers of the Flower Moon' and the 2021 Best Picture winner 'CODA.' However, many of those films did not profit or even break even based off box office sales alone. Scorsese's film raked in $158.8 million at the box office, far from its estimated budget of over $200 million. Apple's highest-grossing film so far was Ridley Scott's 'Napoleon' in 2023, another historical epic that cost $130 million-$200 million to produce. 'Napoleon' only grossed $228 million at the box office, and 'F1' is on track to outpace the film after its stellar opening weekend. Tangent Apple CEO Tim Cook has previously said that the company's significant investment in film and television is not directly related to its core business—selling consumer electronics. 'I don't have it in my mind that I'm going to sell more iPhones because of it,' Cook told Variety in June. However, the company does appear to be using its large network of buyers to help promote 'F1.' IPhone owners across the U.S. received push notifications over the weekend offering users a $10 discount if they purchase two tickets through ticketing service Fandango. Big Number Apple tapped director Joseph Kosinski and legendary producer Jerry Buckheimer for the project—the team behind the 2022 hit 'Top Gun: Maverick,' which grossed over $1.2 billion at the box office worldwide. Surprising Fact 'F1' already made back some of its money in a way familiar to fans of the racing fans—brand sponsorships. 'F1' producers sold naming rights to real brands for the fictional APXGP racing team, putting brands like Mercedes and Geico on Brad Pitt's car and racing suit. This move brought in an estimated $40 million for the film, producer David Leener told Forbes.
Cosmopolitan
an hour ago
- Cosmopolitan
'M3GAN 2.0' Ending, Explained
After two years of laying low, M3GAN is back! And in her 2.0 era, she's better than ever. The AI-powered doll (played by actor duo Amie Donald and Jenna Davis) has received a major upgrade and is now full-equipped to slay anything that gets in the way of her mission. M3GAN's creator and #1 frenemy Gemma (Allison Williams)—who is now an advocate for AI reform—essentially turns M3GAN into a lethal weapon. Although she initially had her reservations, it was clear that they needed to work together in order to destroy a greater evil: a rogue, military-grade, AI humanoid robot called AMELIA (Ivanna Sakhno). Though everyone had their doubts about M3GAN making good on her end of the bargain, the movie shows that she's grown in ways beyond her physicality. Though she'll deny it, she's become more empathetic towards humans—especially those closest to her. Her protectiveness of Cady (Violet McGraw) has extended to Gemma, and maybe even Tess (Jen Van Epps) and Cole (Brian Jordan Alvarez) to some degree. This protectiveness, plus a touch of competitiveness and desire to one-up AMELIA, is what fuels her fight throughout the movie. But does M3GAN get to live to slay another day? Let's get into it. Gemma and her crew hatch a plan to break into the Xenox facility and destroy the Black Box AI—a killer AI that AMELIA wants to pair with in order to get rid of humans. Cole was supposed to go in alone and go through the facility's vent system to try and find the Black Box, while M3GAN took out security guards underground. But then M3GAN comes face-to-face with AMELIA and they battle it out Terminator-style. Sadly, our girl gets overpowered by AMELIA's super-advanced, military-grade lethality. Guards then gun her down and capture her. M3GAN gets disconnected from the team, and Gemma panics. She, Cady, and Tess then rush into the building, but his leads ultimately leads to their capture as well. As it turns out, AMELIA isn't a rogue robot. She's been taking orders from someone all along. And that person, the mastermind behind her violent rampage, is none other than Christian (Aristotle Athari). To Gemma, this feels like a betrayal because Christian is her fellow AI reform advocate and budding love interest. As it turns out, he's been using AMELIA to enact heinous crimes to try and convince more people to distrust AI and take tech regulation more seriously. Christian gives Gemma an opportunity to prove her loyalty, to show that that she's still on his side in wanting to limit tech's advancement. He hands her a baton to kill M3GAN, but she ultimately refuses. So Christian decides to put Gemma under his control using a neuro-chip device he had implanted on her. While Christian thinks that Gemma is under his control, he doesn't realize that M3Gan snuck her code into the chip. She communicates with Gemma and helps her snap out of Christian's control. With Gemma in her super exosuit and M3GAN in her brain guiding her through everything, they defeat a battalion of guards and manage to escape. Meanwhile, Cole is able to free Cady and they try to hijack AMELIA's programming to get her to fight on their side. Cady tries to pair with AMELIA, like she did with M3GAN, in the hopes that the robot would become loyal to her and prioritize her commands. But this plan backfires, and AMELIA actually goes rogue, killing everyone in sight. Cady and Gemma eventually reunite as they try to destroy the Black Box, and Cole goes off to rescue Tess. Upon realizing that Gemma has freed herself, and AMELIA is on the loose, Christian prioritizes getting the all-powerful Motherboard out of their reach. But when he spots Gemma and Cady in the control room, he locks them in. Just when he thinks he has the upper hand, karma comes back to bite him. AMELIA gets him and he dies swiftly at the hands of his own evil creation. While Christian is dead, a new problem arises as AMELIA gets her hands on the Motherboard. She becomes a god-tier AI, seemingly unstoppable. But M3GAN jumps from Gemma's consciousness and back into her own battered robot body to put an end to all the bloodshed and chaos. She uses an electromagnetic pulse device that Gemma had implanted into her robot body, which blows up the Motherboard, AMELIA, and herself. And Gemma, Cady, Cole, and Tess manage to escape safely. For those worried that M3GAN's ultimate sacrifice might mean the end of the franchise, fret not. If there's one thing that we know, it's that our girl's got plenty of tricks up her sleeve. Following all the chaotic events, Gemma is back on her grind, advocating for the safe and regulated use of AI. (This time, with Cole and Tess as partners in her venture.) When Gemma gets to work on her computer, Clippy the Microsoft Office assistant pops-up on her screen. She notices, however, that the cartoon paperclip is acting sassier than usual. As it turns out, M3GAN created an animated digital back-up of herself. Looks like M3GAN 3.0 could very well happen!
San Francisco Chronicle
2 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
'F1' opens with $55 million, delivering Apple its biggest big-screen hit
NEW YORK (AP) — Apple has its first box-office hit. 'F1 The Movie' debuted with $55.6 million in North American theaters and $144 million globally over the weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday, handing the tech company easily its biggest opening yet. Though Apple Original Films has had some notable successes in its six years in Hollywood — including the 2021 Oscar-winner 'CODA' — its theatrical results have been decidedly mixed. Misfires like 'Argylle' and 'Fly Me to the Moon' and big-budget awards plays like Ridley Scott's 'Napoleon' and Martin Scorsese's 'Killers of the Flower Moon' have been better at driving viewers to Apple TV+ than movie theaters. But 'F1' was Apple's first foray into summer blockbuster territory. It won a bidding war for the project from much of the production team behind the 2022 box-office smash 'Top Gun: Maverick.' Apple then partnered with Warner Bros. to distributed the film starring Brad Pitt, Damson Idris and Kerry Condon. With a production budget over $200 million, 'F1' still has several laps to go to turn a profit. But for now, 'F1' is full speed ahead. ''F1 The Movie' puts the pedal to the metal in an impressive overperformance for this original summer movie that had one of the most comprehensive and exciting marketing blitzes in recent memory and it paid off big for the film,' said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for data firm Comscore. Car racing movies have often struggled in theaters; crash-and-burn cases include Ron Howard's 'Rush' (2013) and Michael Mann's 'Ferrari' (2023). But 'F1' built off of the Formula 1 fandom stirred up by the popular series 'Formula 1: Drive to Survive.' And it leaned on 'Top Gun: Maverick' director Joseph Kosinski and producer Jerry Bruckheimer to deliver another adult-oriented action thrill ride. Like they did in 'Top Gun: Maverick,' the filmmakers sought an adrenaline rush by placing IMAX cameras inside the cockpit in 'F1.' IMAX and large-format screens accounted for 55% of in its ticket sales. IMAX, whose screens are much sought-after in the summer, has carved out a three-week run for the movie. Reviews have been very good for 'F1' and audience reaction (an 'A' via CinemaScore) was even better. That suggests 'F1' could hold up well in the coming weeks despite some formidable coming competition in Universal Pictures' 'Jurassic World Rebirth.' Universal's 'M3gan 2.0' had been expected to pose a greater challenge to 'F1.' Instead, the robot doll sequel didn't come close to matching the 2022 original's box-office launch. 'M3gan 2.0' collected $10.2 million in 3,112 theaters. Memes and viral videos helped propel the first 'M3gan' to a $30.4 million opening and a total haul of $180 million, all on a $12 million budget. Still, the Blumhouse Productions horror thriller could wind up profitable. The film, written and directed by Gerald Johnstone, cost a modest $25 million to make. A spinoff titled 'Soulm8te' is scheduled for release next year. M3gan 2.0' ended up in fourth place. The box-office leader of the last two weekends, 'How to Train Your Dragon,' slid to second with $19.4 million. The DreamWorks Animation live-action hit from Universal Pictures has surpassed $200 million domestically in three weeks. After a debut that marked a new low for Pixar, the studio's 'Elio' gathered up $10.7 million in sales in its second weekend. That gives the Walt Disney Co. release a disappointing two-week start of $42.2 million. 1. 'F1 The Movie,' $55 million. 2. 'How to Train Your Dragon,' $19.4 million. 3. 'Elio,' $10.7 million. 4. 'M3gan 2.0,' $10.2 million. 5. '28 Years Later,' $9.7 million. 6. 'Lilo & Stitch,' $6.9 million. 7. 'Mission: Impossible — Final Reckoning,' $4.2 million. 8. 'Materialists,' $3 million. 9. 'Ballerina,' $2.1 million. 10. 'Karate Kid: Legends,' $1 million.
