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A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Monday 11 February 2019

'The Lego Movie 2' opens No. 1 but everything is not awesome

By JAKE COYLE ful of highly promoted films
NEW YORK (AP) — "The from major studios. This
Lego Movie 2: The Second weekend saw a relatively
Part" was easily the top robust slate of releases, in-
ticket-seller in theaters over cluding Taraji P. Henson's
the weekend, but the film's "What Men Want" and the
$35 million opening failed Liam Neeson thriller "Cold
to stack up to its expected Pursuit." Both did solid if not
haul, according to studio spectacular business.
estimates Sunday. Paramount's "What Men
The animated sequel had Want," a loose remake of
been forecast to draw the 2000 Mel Gibson com-
around $50 million. Instead, edy, debuted with $19 mil-
it debuted with half the $69 lion. Henson plays a sports
million the 2014 original did, agent with the ability to
despite good reviews and hear men's thoughts in
an A-minus CinemaScore. Adam Shankman's film, a
With about a $100 million kind of gender flip from the
budget, Warner Bros.' "The This image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows the characters Emmet, left, and Rex Dan- original. The film got poor
Lego Movie 2" had been gervest, center, both voiced by Chris Pratt, in a scene from "The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part." reviews (47 percent fresh
pegged as a dependable, Associated Press on Rotten Tomatoes), but
star-studded franchise re- audiences gave it an A-
lease sure to kick-start a dia analyst for Comscore. end last year? "Black Pan- Oversaturation could be to minus CinemaScore.
moribund box office. But "We were all hoping that ther." blame. Since the 2014 origi- Lionsgate's "Cold Pursuit"
after record ticket sales last this would be the weekend "Momentum is everything nal, which grossed $469 debuted with $10.8 million,
year, Hollywood's 2019 has that got the momentum of at the box office," Derga- million worldwide, Warner a result in line with expecta-
gotten off to such a bad the box office going in the rabedian said. "And we've Bros. released two spinoffs: tions despite the controver-
beginning that the movie's right direction. We're still sort of lost that." "The Lego Batman Movie" sy that surrounded its star in
tagline of "Everything is not waiting." Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks, in 2017 and "The Lego Nin- the week leading up to re-
awesome" is looking more Every weekend this year Will Arnett, Will Ferrell and jago Movie" later the same lease. Neeson drew heavy
like accurate industry anal- has been down from the others reprise their voice year. Distribution execu- criticism after he acknowl-
ysis. same weekend a year roles in "The Lego Movie tives for Warner Bros. de- edged in an interview pub-
"The expectations were ago. That's a streak sure to 2," while Tiffany Haddish clined to comment on the lished last Monday that he
certainly much higher for continue. Next weekend, and Maya Rudolph join the weekend's results. wanted to kill a random
'The Lego Movie 2' con- the new releases include cast. Mike Mitchell directs Until now, 2019's slug- black person when a close
sidering the success of the "Happy Death Day 2U" and the movie written by origi- gish box office was partly friend told him she had
first installment," said Paul "Alita: Battle Angel." What nal writer-directors Phil Lord blamed on lack of quality been raped by a black
Dergarabedian, senior me- opened the same week- and Chris Miller. releases, with only a hand- man.q

'This Is Us' star Milo

Ventimiglia honored at Harvard

Mann and Mariana San-
chez Medina of the Hasty
Pudding Theatrics, who
poked fun at some of his B-
list acting roles and his sta-
tus as a sex symbol.
"Milo was named the
world's sexiest vegetar-
ian alive by PETA, even
though everyone sees you
as a piece of meat," the
two Harvard undergrads
quipped.
Before being able to hold
the pudding pot, Ventimi-
glia had to endure a little
extra embarrassment: the
Pudding had Ventimiglia
sing Fergie smash "Big Girls
In this Sept. 25, 2018 file photo, Milo Ventimiglia arrives at a
season three premiere screening of "This Is Us" in Los Angeles. Don't Cry," (Ventimiglia
Associated Press starred in the music video)
and gave a lap dance to
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — ding Theatricals at Farkas one of its members.
"This Is Us" actor Milo Ven- Hall in Cambridge. Ventimiglia took the teas-
timiglia was honored Friday The Emmy-nominated ac- ing in good fun, emphasiz-
as Man of the Year by Har- tor received the award af- ing how proud he was to
vard University's Hasty Pud- ter a roast from Elizabeth receive the title.q