Hollywood Week: SAG/AFTRA, WGA Turn the Page, Thanksgiving Weekend Box Office Menu

Details: Category: Entertainment News; Published on Saturday, 18 November 2023 12:00; Written by Janet Walker

With a new year just six weeks away, and a tumultuous six months of haranguing, arguments, and ultimatums behind them, Hollywood actors and writers are ready to return to work and once again do what they do best: create.

While both sides are calling the SAG/AFTRA contract a victory, recent revelations show the board vote to accept the contract wasn't 100%. "The approval, which was expected, clears the way for the contract to be voted on by members. The vote among board members was 86% in favor of the three-year film and TV contract, the union said," The Los Angeles Times reported.

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Warner Bros Discovery Chief David Zaslav is the first to remark on the last six months of union negotiations, in a New York Times article, that profiles the studio executive who became known as one of the Big Four CEO's, along with Walt Disney's Bog Iger, Netflix's Ted Sarandos, and NBC/Universal's Donna Langley, who began attending when it appeared the negotiations has reached a stalemate.

Zaslav, in referencing the Writer's Guild of America negotiations, said according to the Hollywood Reporter, "They are right about almost everything. So, what if we overpay? I've never regretted overpaying for great talent or a great asset," suggesting, one can suppose in jest, that writers are overpaid.

The brutalities of the strike for the WGA and the SAG/AFTRA unions are now in the rearview and as time passes so quickly, it's likely that both unions while thankful for the momentum are already looking ahead, as it can be expected the studios are as well.

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Box Office Thanksgiving Weekend Menu

The Marvel mystique may be losing its multi-billion-dollar appeal as the recent release, The Marvel's, from Walt Disney starring Academy Award winner Brie Larson, Teyonah Parris, Iman Vellani, and Samuel L. Jackson, tumbled quickly sliding to number 4 after just one week. The bloated production budget of $274,800,000, put a heavy burden on the trio of females, who will undoubtedly be blamed for the failure to produce the big box office take. The silver lining of course is the upcoming holiday weekend, which may add momentum and provide a much-needed boost for the alt-universe action flick.

With the long Thanksgiving weekend in sight, the box office is hoping for a strong showing with a cornucopia of movie treats and delights ranging from the concert films Taylor Swift: The Era Tour, Beyonce's Renaissance Film opens December 1, 2023, and is expected to carry the box office through the Holiday season with the hype of a Tom Cruise Top Gun film.

"AMC is capitalizing on the big screen fever for Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour with another massive concert film, very welcome at a box office that's seen its theatrical release schedule shaken up by the ongoing actors strike. Eras Tour has grossed $179 million worldwide ($132 million domestic) since opening this month," reported Deadline.com.

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Gathered at the Box Office Thanksgiving Table will be Martin Scorsese's over three hour Children of the Flower Moon, the western crime thriller starring Robert De Niro, Leonardo Di Caprio and Lily Gladstone is a cinematic masterpiece and a must see. Priscilla, from Director Sofia Coppola and A24, which presents a walk-through Priscilla Presley introduction to Elvis Presley and her life as the child girlfriend and wife of the world's first rock and roll superstar which leaves you wanting more.

Also on the menu Five Nights at Freddy's, a Blumhouse Horror flick, will continue to pack in the audience over the long weekend. The Hunger Games: The Balled of Songbirds and Snakes, while hasn't received the best reviews, took the number 1 spot proving audiences are still hungry for more of The Hunger Games saga.

For the kids, where even the adults go to escape, from Universal The Trolls Band Together, a vibrant explosion of color and sound that will captivate even the youngest guests and PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie, from Paramount Pictures.

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The soccer film Next Goal Wins, from Searchlight Pictures, which tells the story of the worst soccer team in World Cup history and the coach that hopes to turn these ragtag bunch of under achievers into the winners that he believes they are, a feel-good triumphant film that should also perform well.

And the holiday story Journey to Bethlehem, from SONY Pictures, starring Antonio Banderas and Fiona Palomo, set the Nativity story to live action musical bringing the birth of Jesus to a new audience, should round out the Thanksgiving Weekend menu offering, unless of course, Barbie decides to make an unexpected return visit.