Hello, welcome to The Monitor, WIRED’s roundup of all things pop culture. Today we have a lot of news from Disney—both from Marvel and Lucasfilm. Meanwhile, HBO is filling its coffers for the streaming wars. Here we go.
Bob Iger Is Not Here for Famous Directors Talking Trash About Marvel
Recently, as readers of this roundup may remember, directors like Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola have been besmirching the films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The director of The Godfather said the films were despicable; Scorsese said they weren’t cinema at all. This week, Bob Iger, the head of Marvel’s parent company, Disney, addressed those comments. “I reserve the word ‘despicable’ for someone who has committed mass murder,” Iger said at The Wall Street Journal ‘s Tech Live conference. “These are movies.” But, he added, if “they want to bitch about movies, it’s certainly their right.” Your move, directors.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Didn’t Beat Avengers: Endgame in First-Day Ticket Sales
There’s no doubt that Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is going to make all kinds of money. But will the Jedi bring in more dough than their corporate brethren in the Avengers? That remains to be seen. According to Atom Tickets, the movie came in shy of beating the first-day sales of Avengers: Endgame when tickets went on sale Monday. The movie did, however, sell more tickets in its first hour than any other movie before it and sold two and a half times as many tickets in its first day as Star Wars: The Last Jedi on Atom. Meanwhile, Fandango also reports that Rise of Skywalker outperformed all other Star Wars films in first-day presales. The site did not, however, disclose if it outperformed all other films before it. Endgame, which made nearly $2.8 billion, currently holds the record for the highest international box office total ever.
Adventure Time Is Coming to HBO Max
HBO’s forthcoming streaming service just added another massive animated title to its roster. Just a few days after the company announced a huge deal to offer all of the Studio Ghibli movies, it revealed that it’ll also bring four one-hour Adventure Time specials to HBO Max. The first two of those specials, titled Adventure Time: Distant Lands, will debut next year.
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