Geek News You Should Know: 6/22/14

1) This weekend, where they were really no blockbusters, the box office was down considerably.  Think Like a Man Too lead the pact this week making a little over $29million and narrowly beating out last week's number one, 22 Jump Street, which stayed strong and made around $27 million.  Think Like a Man Too finished slightly lower than the original Think Like a Man, which made $33.6 million in it's opening weekend.  The other big movie opening up this weekend, Jersey Boys, only pulled in $13.5 million this weekend, which was only good for fourth and has to be disappointing for the Clint Eastwood picture.  I can't help but feel Jersey Boys may have opened up better in September or October with less competition.  Here's the top ten courtesy of BoxOfficeMojo.com.

TW	LW	Title (click to view)	Studio	Weekend Gross	% Change	Theater Count / Change		Average	Total Gross	Budget*	Week #
1	N	Think Like a Man Too	SGem	$29,241,911	-	2,225	-	$13,142	$29,241,911	$24	1
2	1	22 Jump Street	Sony	$27,460,995	-51.9%	3,306	-	$8,306	$109,911,125	$50	2
3	2	How to Train Your Dragon 2	Fox	$24,719,312	-50.0%	4,268	+15	$5,792	$94,596,047	$145	2
4	N	Jersey Boys	WB	$13,319,371	-	2,905	-	$4,585	$13,319,371	$40	1
5	3	Maleficent	BV	$12,910,766	-30.2%	3,450	-173	$3,742	$185,879,334	$180	4
6	4	Edge of Tomorrow	WB	$9,820,080	-40.6%	3,212	-293	$3,057	$73,991,573	$178	3
7	5	The Fault in our Stars	Fox	$8,565,710	-42.1%	3,340	+67	$2,565	$98,694,043	$12	3
8	6	X-Men: Days of Future Past	Fox	$6,150,460	-37.3%	2,681	-361	$2,294	$216,744,710	$200	5
9	7	Godzilla (2014)	WB	$1,888,304	-43.0%	1,365	-723	$1,383	$194,983,388	$160	6
10	10	Chef	ORF	$1,708,590	-21.9%	961	-141	$1,778	$16,805,782	-	7

2) Marvel has announced their new releases for September 2014, which will be dealing with the aftermath of Original Sin and move towards the next events with Edge of Spider-Verse #1 as well as lots of books leading to the March of AXIS.  Also coming out weekly in September will be The Death of Wolverine, where Wolverine has lost his healing power and has 3 months to live.  New volumes of The Dark Tower and George Romero's Empire of the Dead launch this month as well.  While new comics begin, some have to end, Ultimate Fantastic Four is officially gone with August's issue 6 being it's last and September's Avengers Undercover #10 bringing the end of that series.  You can check out the full solicitations here.

 

3) Image also announced their September 2014 releases and it's chocked full of new and returning titles. New titles include Roche Limit, Copperhead, Oddly Normal and the debut of God Hates Astronauts, a trade that Anthony really loved, launching it's second volume but debuting in floppy form.  They are also launching new storyarchs for Lazarus, '68, Deadly Class, Rocket Girl, and another book Anthony loves, A Voice in the Dark is launching it's second story entitled Get Your Gun and this time it's in full color.  You can check out the full solicitations here.  Over the past year or two, Image has truly become my favorite comic book company and more and more of my monthly comic book allotment has shifted over to them. The worst part is I don't even buy all of the Image books that I should, there's so many quality books by them that I'm not getting like Rat Queens, A Voice in the Dark, Lazarus,  and Velvet to name a few.

   

4) I've always wanted to go to Harry Potter Land at Universal Studios and with the upcoming Diagon Alley area, it makes me want to go there even more.  Unfortunately, when I was last in Orlando, due to poor honeymoon planning by this guy we missed our opportunity but hope to visit there soon.  One of the many cash grabs/awesome thing at Harry Potter Land is the magic wands you can by at Ollivander's Wand Shop and make things around the theme park come to life.  Here is a video with James and Oliver Phelps (Fred and George Weasley) and Bonnie Wright (Ginny Weasley) playing with some of the features.



In addition to this, they have added a new ride Harry Potter and the Escape From Gringotts (which has been described by the few that have gone on it so far as worth the price of admission alone) as well as the Hogwarts Express where you can literally go through at wall at Platform 9 3/4.  Need to start saving!