From box office hits to serious interviews, here are the top entertainment stories today.
Box Office Previews
The hype around The Super Mario Bros. Movie is very real after it shattered opening night expectations. The video game brothers Mario and Luigi, voiced by Chris Pratt and Charlie Day respectively, raked in $26.5 million for its Thursday premiere, according to Variety. The movie about a pair of Italian plumbers out to stop the evil Bowser from taking over the Mushroom Kingdom is on pace to earn $150 million in the U.S. alone. Meanwhile, at the international box office, it earned another $62.5 million. If it keeps this pace, it could mean a major win for Illumination, Nintendo, and Universal Studios.
Meanwhile, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon's Air earned $2.4 million on Thursday. The film, which tells the story of Michael Jordan's game-changing brand deal with Nike, took $90 million to produce but is expected to bring in $16 million in its first five days. Amazon Studios backed the Affleck-directed project, which will likely stream on Prime Video after the film's exclusive wide theatrical release.
Drake, Ye Feud
The petty person of the year award goes to Drake after he revived his seemingly mended beef with Ye West. In a new release titled Search & Rescue, Drizzy sampled Kim Kardashian's vocals to take a snipe at West. "I didn't come this far, just to come this far and not be happy," Kardashian said in an episode of her reality as she spoke to Kris Jenner about her divorce from West.
What is interesting is how the king of sneak dissing was able to acquire the sample. Did Kardashian sign off on it? Her name was missing from the song's credits, but she also has not made a public statement about the song. So far, West has also been mum on the release, but in November, West went on a Twitter rant and said he no longer wanted to beef and had love for Drake.
Surely there will be more to come.
Jeremy Renner Breaks Silence
Actor Jeremy Renner's return to 100 percent health has been slow going since his near fatal New Year's Day snow plow accident. In an interview with ABC's Diane Sawyer, he described the devastating damage the plow had done to his body after crushing him. "I could see my eye with the other eye," he said. He also revealed that part of his ribcage had to be rebuilt with metal components.
His neighbors and nephew, who were at the scene of the accident, told Sawyer they feared the worst and assumed Renner did not make it after seeing him lose so much blood.
