Page 16 - Florida Sentinel 10-22-19

Entertainment
Box Office: Jennifer Lopez And Constance Wu’s ‘Hustlers’ Tops $100 Million To Become Bigger Than ‘Goodfellas’
LisaRaye McCoy Claims Tisha
Campbell’s Ex-Husband Duane
Martin Broke Up Her Marriage
STX Entertainment is making it official. Hustlers has become their third re- lease (and their second in a year) to gross over $100 mil- lion at the domestic box of- fice. The acclaimed and buzzy Lorene Scafaria crime dramedy, about a handful of New York strip- pers who use their wiles (and some light drugging) to con their rich clients out of copi- ous legal tender in the after- math of the 2009 Wall Street crash, has earned 3x its $33 million opening weekend. The $20 million flick has also earned $125 million world- wide. For better or worse, it is only the second female-di- rected movie of the year to cross $100 million, after Captain Marvel (which was co-directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck).
In unadjusted grosses, the film is behind only The Up- side ($109 million earlier this year) and Bad Moms ($113 million in 2016) among all STX domestic releases. The latter may be a bridge too far, unless it ends up in the awards race for real, as it’s al- ready earning less in day-to- day grosses now than the Mila Kunis/Kristen Bell/Kathryn Hahn com-
LisaRaye McCoy claimed that Tisha Campbell’s former husband Duane Martin was the one who broke up her mar- riage to Michael Misick in a teaser for her upcoming episode of TV One’s Uncensored. Lis- aRaye explained that she and Duane were friends and costars first, and she made the mistake of introducing him to her hus- band. As their friendship grew, Duane began introducing Michael to various women, which caused his marriage to LisaRaye to crumble.
LISARAYE
Lorene Scafaria’s acclaimed R-rated crime flick has sold more tickets in North America than Martin Scorsese’s acclaimed R- rated crime flick.
Howard University Teams
edy. Nonetheless, it is (sadly by default) the third-biggest grosser, sans inflation, star- ring multiple women of color behind Girls Trip ($115 mil- lion in 2017) and Hidden Figures ($168 million in 2016/2017), although Wait- ing to Exhale ($67 million in 1995) sold enough to tickets to have earned $137 million in 2019 dollars. That said, Hustlers has now sold more tickets than Goodfellas.
The Martin Scorsese mob classic earned a solid $46 million in 1990, which would be around $99 million in 2019 ticket prices. That means, sans any 3-D or much in the way of PLF help (most
of those “big” screens went to It Chapter Two and then Ad Astra), Lorene Scafaria’s acclaimed black comedy about women (Constance Wu, Jennifer Lopez, Keke Palmer, Lili Rein- hart, etc.) doing crime is more successful than Mar- tin Scorsese’s acclaimed black comedy about men (Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, etc.) doing crime. That’s impressive in how it rebuts conventional wisdom about what kind of movies are more commer- cially viable and because of the “fewer people go to the movies than they used to” factor.
With Amazon Studios For
Howard Entertainment
Howard University and Ama- zon Studios will launch Howard Entertainment, a program that will create a pipeline for Black and other marginalized students to study and train with enter- tainment executives.
Set to launch in January, the program will combine hands-on experience with opportunities to network with Amazon’s industry partners.
Howard University Presi- dent Wayne A. I. Frederick said in a statement, “The vision of Howard Entertainment is to offer a one-of-a-kind experience for students interested in all as-
HOWARD UNIVESITY
pects of entertainment, from project greenlighting, to PR and marketing, to entertainment law and finance.”
'Tarzan' Actor Ron Ely's Wife Killed; Son Shot By Deputies
"Tarzan" actor Ron Ely's wife was stabbed to death in their California home by their 30-year-old son, who was then shot and killed by sher- iff's deputies, authorities said Wednesday.
Deputies summoned to the home by a 911 call found Va- lerie Lundeen Ely, 62, dead with multiple stab wounds shortly after 8 p.m. Tuesday, a Santa Barbara County sheriff's statement said.
The deputies talked to Ron Ely and identified his son, 30-year-old Cameron Ely, as the suspect, and found him outside the home in Hope Ranch, a suburb of luxury homes outside Santa Barbara, authorities said.
RON ELY
Cameron Ely posed a threat to deputies, four of whom opened fire and killed him, the statement said. It did not say what he had done that was threatening.
Ron Ely, 81, played the title character on the NBC se-
ries "Tarzan," which ran from 1966 to 1968.
He was host of the Miss America pageant in 1980 and 1981 and later married Va- lerie Ely, a former Miss Florida. The couple had three children.
There was no report of Ron Ely being injured. Au- thorities confirmed he was at the home during the stabbing and the shooting, and an ear- lier sheriff's statement said an elderly man in the home was taken to a hospital for evaluation.
The home where the killings took place is one of two addresses listed in public records for Cameron Ely. It is not clear whether he had been living with his parents.
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