‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ swings to all-time domestic box office record

Hey there, Popculturology pals.

Phew. What a busy week.

In addition to a ton of pop culture news, I spent my evenings leasing a new car (swapped out our previous lease for an EV since there’s a looming gas crisis), hunting down a lost wallet and locking my accounts before someone could use my card at a Pizza Hut in California, and finally doing a full reset of my phone since half my text messages stopped working.

But I still found time to buy the stellar new 4K steelbook for Annihilation. That movie — and Jeff VanderMeer’s book! — is an all-timer. I’m thrilled to have this new edition in my physical media collection.

Oh! And I was on this month’s edition of the Hoth Takes podcast, joining them to discuss the first trailer for Ahsoka’s second season.

The ‘Hoth Takes’ podcast and I have some serious questions about the ‘Ahsoka’ trailer | The Omnicosm

I reunited with the ‘Hoth Takes’ gang to break down the first trailer for the show’s upcoming second season.

The OmnicosmBill Kuchman

‼️ THE BIG STORIES

Apparently “everything a spider can” includes setting a new domestic box office record

Up until a few weeks ago, I never thought it would happen, but on Tuesday, Spider-Man: Brand New Day passed Star Wars: The Force Awakens to claim the top spot on the all-time domestic box office chart.

The Force Awakens settled at $935,642,689 over 119 days between 2015 and 2016. Up until Brand New Day came along, the seventh Star Wars film was the only movie to ever crack $900 million in North America — a record that I thought was virtually untouchable.

Welp, Brand New Day touched that milestone in just 47 days, fueled by a record $360.1 million opening weekend back in late July and early August.

• Is this record Doom’d?: After Spider-Man: Brand New Day broke the record that Avengers: Endgame was unable to topple, does Avengers: Doomsday have what it takes to make Spidey’s reign a short one? The upcoming Avengers film has already grossed $50 million through presales. (IndieWire)

Kimmel isn’t going anywhere

After a Page Six report claimed Jimmy Kimmel was going to step away from his long-running late-night show once his contract was up next year published last week, we almost immediately got word from the trades that, no, Kimmel isn’t going anywhere.

The Jimmy Kimmel Live! host is reportedly in talks to extend his contract beyond 2027. Kimmel has hosted the ABC show since its inception in 2003, and has become a favorite target in the current administration’s quest to squash free speech on our nation’s broadcast airwaves. (Variety)

• Colbert returns: As Skydance looked to close its acquisition of Paramount, CBS decided that was the perfect time to kill The Late Show, making Stephen Colbert the first victim of the war against late-night TV. Colbert appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Tuesday, passing the Captain America shield that once adorned the walls of The Colbert Report to his former Strike Force Five member. (Watch)
• Parting prize: It’s been a big week for Colbert. The Late Show won the Emmy for outstanding variety series during Monday’s televised ceremony. (The New York Times)

Universal might’ve gotten shamed into releasing the Elon Musk doc

Thursday kicked off with a report that Universal Pictures was “rethinking the release” of Musk, the acclaimed Elon Musk documentary from Alex Gibney.

Sources were telling The Hollywood Reporter that “they believed that Universal would ultimately decide against releasing the film and return rights to the movie to filmmakers,” making it look like Musk was going to be a repeat of Amazon MGM Studios ditching Artificial in fear of running afoul of Sam Altman’s tech company.

But apparently the backlash to that report was severe enough to make Universal reconsider.

“But THR’s article sparked criticism directed at the studio, leading to a series of internal meetings at the Comcast-owned film unit,” the trade wrote later Thursday. “The talks are ongoing, but one studio insider believes that they have progressed enough that Universal will ultimately keep the film and go forward with its distribution plan.”