This week's Southern African weekend box office report saw three distinct trends. There were the movers, the new entries, and the top two. Notably, Jumanji wasn't among the latter. Instead, the Dwayne Johnson flick which made over R61-million at the box office throughout its prosperous life is finally dying. It drops three places this week from third to sixth. Joining it is Tad, The Lost Explorer and the Secret of King Midas (*breathe*), Oscar-winning Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, and Raaiselkind. All three drop three spots to make room for this week's new entries. Those new entries are led by Gnome Alone...
Netflix original Black Mirror has been renewed for a fifth season, confirmed this week through a cryptic tweet -- the only applicable way, it seems. "The future will be brighter than ever," the post reads, compelte with a video of scenes from 12 previous episodes displayed on 12 different screens reminiscent of the Architect scene from The Matrix. The future will be brighter than ever. pic.twitter.com/slVeg3VPd7 — Black Mirror (@blackmirror) March 5, 2018 Odd? Yes. Typically Black Mirror? Absolutely. Me trying to figure out what this might be implying pic.twitter.com/FHHatDLjTl — Noah Clement (@Rocky_BalNoah) March 5, 2018 But what does it mean? Perhaps season five would tie...
The internet and the big arts academies of the world don't always agree. We've seen this with the Grammys this year, and now the Oscars may have just joined in. Judging by Google Trends data taken from across the world for the past 12 months, the internet's most popular films don't have as much "fish porn" as this year's Best Picture winner. (Also, don't worry, that link is SFW.) "The most popular among all Best Picture Oscar nominees in the US this year was, without a doubt, Get Out," Google explains. "In much of the world, however, Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk proved to...
If you stayed up all night to catch the 90th edition of the Oscars, congratulations, you deserve that coffee. If not (like me), then don't fret. Someone, somewhere wrote all the winners down for people like you (us). So who won what exactly? We take a look at the 2018 Oscar winners, and arrange them in convenient tweet-sized snippets for use on social media. Enjoy! Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk picked up both Best Sound Mixing and Best Sound Editing on the night. The Best Visual Effects nod was given to Blade Runner 2049, beating Guardians Vol. 2, The Last Jedi, War for the...
Thirty-five minutes outside Cape Town's CBD lies an unobtrusive farmhouse nestled beneath the Constantiaberg. A decade ago, it housed old-fashioned horse-drawn carriages and 19th century farming equipment. Now, the white walls and thatched roofs are home to Triggerfish, one of South Africa's leading animation studios. Triggerfish was founded in 1996 with a focus on stop-motion commercials. But demand died down, and so too did business. By 2005, Triggerfish lay dormant. Mike Buckland, the studio's head of production, joined in 2007 to help refocus the studio on computer-generated imagery (CGI). An unobtrusive farmhouse is home to the team that may win South...
You hear it all the time (at least in the hipster parts of Cape Town): support local. Wear locally-made clothes, buy fruit and veg from your local vendors. Whether these efforts are helping is unclear, but one area it isn't? Local film. Hollywood struggled last year with its worst summer season in over a decade. But it's not just US films that are failing to reach an audience -- South African ones are too. Last year, the 24 South African films released in cinemas accumulated R44.5-million altogether. To put that into perspective, Despicable Me 3 made R46-million by itself. Fast and...
The box office this week was really boring. Barely anything changed. The top four is exactly the same as last week, and the bottom six moved just enough to make you go "huh" and then walk away. "This week is very boring," I told my editor, Andy, when I realised. "Make something up," he said. So here's the box office charts I just made up. (23 - 25 February) Black Panther is still at the top, Fifty Shades is still in second, Jumanji is still in third. You get it Black Panther is in top spot for the three hundredth week in a row. The...
It's this writer's last trailer roundup here on Memeburn, so of course that means the marketing world dried up and delivered a host of just okay trailers to send me off. It's very inconsiderate of these massive studios who plan their schedules out years in advance to not care about this little Capetonian. But, hey, life isn't fair. So here are last week's trailers. On Chesil Beach Saoirse Ronan is coming after that fourth Oscar nomination in On Chesil Beach, where she shows off her beautiful English accent. Based on the novel by Ian McEwan (Atonement), the film set in 1962 follows young newlyweds Florence...
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri tells a universal tale of women abandoned by the justice system sworn to protect them. In South Africa, this story is all too common; a study by the South African Medical Research Council found that, in 2012, only 8% of rape cases reported to the police resulted in guilty verdicts. If that figure held until 2017, over 36 600 reported rape cases saw the accused walk free. Our own President Jacob Zuma was accused of raping Fezekile Ntsukela Kuzwayo before his election. He was elected anyway, a sour piece of history echoed in the US's...
Life is hard. Problems barrel at us at a steady pace, and social media has allowed us all direct access to almost every human being on the planet's problems. People weren't made to handle so much -- and you're allowed to step away from it when you need. For some that could mean partaking in a hobby, or exercising, or spending your salary on face masks. Life is hard - if you want, try these shows that could make it a little lighter For me, it often means finding TV shows that transport me to a world where real-world problems are infrequent and, when...
It's still February. I don't know how. I thought this was meant to be the shortest month and yet here we are, still in February. To make matters worse? There are only two first trailers on this list. Everything else is a second or third. If you haven't been following trailers closely, though, then these may feel brand new. I hope that's true for you. Here they are. Incredibles 2 Disney is calling this a "sneak peek" but it's a trailer and its marketing jargon doesn't work on me. In it, Mr Incredible stays at home to look after multi-super-powered baby Jack Jack...
Marvel's Black Panther is the studio's biggest opening ever in South Africa, pulling in R16.8-million in its first weekend at the theatres. The film was warmly embraced in places like Bloemfontein, where South African-style celebrations were enjoyed at the opening. Black Panther -- which obviously topped the charts -- is now the third biggest industry opening weekend ever in South Africa. The blockbuster also scored the highest Saturday box office of all time with R6.9-million on 17 February. Black Panther had Marvel's biggest opening in South Africa, also scoring the highest Saturday box office of all time The film was also a star in the rest of the...
Comic fans around the world have waited with bated breath to witness the fate of Black Panther, Marvel’s first black-led superhero film. The blockbuster, with its star-studded cast and partially South African soundtrack, could make or break Marvel’s future plans in diversifying its cinematic universe. It’s an unfair amount of pressure for director Ryan Coogler, but fans will be delighted to know that he pulls Black Panther together with style and composure -- and with a passion so evident it seeps into every shot and every line of dialogue. The film follows King T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman) of the technologically-advanced Wakanda, a...
Happy Valentine's Day, South Africa, and congrats on never being afraid to get your (missionary) freak on. This weekend, Fifty Shades Freed, the last of the trilogy, opened right at the top of the charts, knocking the ever strong Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle down to second. I think it's fair to say we love a good bush. Fifty Shades Freed topped the charts this week, pushing the successful Jumanji down to second But how did the other films fare this weekend? (9 - 11 February) Animation Tad the Lost Explorer and the Secret of King Midas (the catchiest of film titles) opened in fourth, unable to take on...
It's the season of love, and for some that means flowers and chocolates and romantic declarations. For others it means avoiding the shops at all costs. If you're sitting in the latter, then you're probably planning on staying home alone Wednesday night to avoid the amorous couples flaunting their togetherness. Question love, loneliness, and life on Netflix this Valentine's Day There's no shame in staying in, and to make your night even simpler I've compiled a list of films on Netflix South Africa you may want to check out to keep your mind off Valentine's day. Here they are. Unfaithful Unfaithful is a film for those looking...
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