Here is — definitively and officially — who won and lost the week in Hollywood, early April edition. The latest entry in The Hollywood Reporter’s super-consistent ongoing column…
WON: Zendaya and Tom Holland: Oh, The Drama. Despite Zendaya’s film being bait-and-switch marketed as an upbeat wedding rom-com, being criticized by a school shooting victim, getting scolded for not throwing in a racial component, and generally just getting weddings all wrong, the indie rage-bait still delivered A24’s third-highest opening to date with $28 million globally — leaving zero doubt of Zendaya’s star power. Then she graced the Euphoria red carpet, looking stunning and successfully maintained a measurable distance from Sydney Sweeney, as if playing a game of My Castmate is Lava.
While (totally her husband) Tom Holland is starting to promote his two very likely summer blockbusters, The Odyssey and Spider-Man: Brand New Day. It’s exceedingly rare that both parties in a Hollywood power couple (who are definitely married, come on) have a wildly successful year at the same time, while also being equally well liked by fans. Fun fact: Ever the professional, Holland has agreed to keep filming Brand New Day reshoots through the movie’s opening weekend and beyond, allowing Kevin Feige to continue “plus-ing” the film for the rest of the actor’s life.
LOST: Dune Fans: We get it, Warner Bros. You want to hype Part Three. But Monday’s stunt releasing Imax tickets for only one screening each night on opening weekend at just 19 theaters across the entire world frustrated the hell out of fans (even Club Chalamet snarked on X: “Why is life so complicated when it comes to Dune? Just give me my ticket without all the stress and bullshit”). Then WB global distribution chief Jeff Goldstein bragged about the shows selling out: “This incredible result is proof that the fans’ anticipation to experience Dune: Part Three as it was meant to be — on the biggest, boldest screens possible — is at a fever pitch.” What’s actually incredible is taking a victory lap for selling out just 76 screenings worldwide for an insanely anticipated sequel. Congrats, you sold the opening weekend equivalent of the Irvine Spectrum putting Dune on four screens! “I could be bounded in a nutshell and count myself a king of infinite space,” etc. The stunt did successfully generate headlines, granted, but Dune doesn’t need this kind of silliness to sell tickets.
WON: The Super Mario Galaxy Movie / The Devil Wears Prada 2: The Super Mario sequel was dumped on by critics — one declared it “the end of cinema” and “physically painful to watch,” while another said it was “a massive, headache-inducing mess” — yet Universal’s animated hit was the biggest opening weekend of the year so far with $131 million. While 20th Century Studios’ The Devil Wears Prada 2 is tracking for a strong opening on May 1 and is getting attention for anything that anybody on the movie does — from the Meryl Streep + Anna Wintour Vogue cover to a fourth-wall-breaking editing goof in the final trailer to Adrian Grenier landing a Starbucks ad for not appearing in the film (what are the odds, you think, that he made more from that ad than he would have for being in the sequel?).
LOST: HBO’s Harry Potter: Sure, the trailer got 277 million views in 48 hours. But any network hopes of containing the “Black Snape” uproar to Slytherin House racists on X fell apart when even Saturday Night Live pointed out the obvious issue that non-bigoted fans have been saying for months — that hero Harry is gonna look awfully racist spending the whole first season accusing his Black teacher of wanting to steal something. Meanwhile, every time star John Lithgow tries to clarify his position on J.K. Rowling’s trans views he sets off another round of headlines, looking more Stumble-dore than Dumbledore. Will fans still watch the hell out of this show? Of course. (Speaking of SNL, the show’s belabored attempts to mock the Trump administration were upstaged this week when an electric parody of Karoline Leavitt went viral on TikTok from Canada’s 22 Minutes — watch it below).
LOST: Everybody Not Going to Coachella: Because for the next two weeks, we’re all going to have to hear about people at Coachella.
LOST: Millennial, Gen X and Boomer Moviegoers: Sorry, it’s over. Gen Z is now the most active moviegoing demographic, according to a Fandango study. Their tastes are now in charge. This means there will never be another theatrical release made for olds again. Expect theaters to embrace moviegoers using phones during screenings and no more sex scenes.
Until (maybe) next week…
