00:00Sonic speeds past a box office record,
00:02the success of Parasite isn't slowing down,
00:04and Tiffany Boone is addressing her exit from The Chi
00:07following her sexual misconduct claims.
00:09I'm Tiffany Taylor, and right now,
00:11I've got the top stories you need to know today
00:13from The Hollywood Reporter News.
00:14First, Sonic the Hedgehog, starring James Marsden,
00:16Jim Carrey, and Ben Schwartz,
00:18as the voice of Sonic sped past the competition
00:21and expectations at the box office this weekend,
00:23debuting with a $70 million haul.
00:26This marks Paramount's biggest domestic opening
00:28since Mission Impossible Fallout over a year and a half ago.
00:31Now, every Hollywood studio has its ups and downs
00:33at the box office, but Paramount has endured a dismal run,
00:37topped by big-budget misses such as Gemini Man
00:39and Terminator Dark Fate in late 2019.
00:42Sonic marks an important victory for the studio,
00:44after scoring the top opening of all time
00:47for a video game adaptation.
00:50I was not expecting that.
00:53But I was expecting not to expect something,
00:54so it doesn't count.
00:55The live-action CGI hybrid,
00:57based on the popular Sega video game,
00:59was hardly a sure bet.
01:00The family film's release date
01:02was pushed back three months,
01:03after first-time feature director Jeff Fowler
01:06announced he was redesigning the title character,
01:08after a loud outcry over the first trailer.
01:11I'm going to give you five seconds to tell me where it is.
01:15Wait, don't hurt him!
01:17Ah!
01:18Heading into the weekend,
01:19Sonic was tracking to gross roughly $45 to $50 million
01:23for the four-day holiday.
01:24Its three-day gross of $58 million beat those projections alone,
01:28while the estimated four-day gross of $70 million
01:30represents the fourth-best domestic showing
01:32for the President's Day weekend.
01:34In more box office news,
01:35the success of Bong Joon-ho's Parasite
01:37is not slowing down anytime soon.
01:39THR's Neha Joy in New York has more.
01:42Following its historic best picture victory at the 2020 Oscars,
01:45the South Korean dark comedy thriller
01:47made its biggest push yet in the U.S.,
01:49expanding from 1,060 locations to 2,001
01:53over the President's Day holiday weekend.
01:55The move proved to be a good one
01:56since Parasite raced up the chart to number seven
01:59with $6.8 million,
02:00making this the film's top weekend gross to date.
02:03Globally, the film has been a massive success.
02:06Parasite celebrated its Academy Award victory
02:08by zooming past the $200 million mark for CJ Entertainment,
02:11despite the fact that it opened in many key markets,
02:14including South Korea, months ago.
02:16This past weekend, it earned another $12.8 million
02:19for a foreign tally of $161.1 million.
02:23Its worldwide gross of $205 million includes $44.49 million
02:28in ticket sales in the U.S.,
02:29where it now ranks number four on the list
02:31of the top-grossing foreign language films of all time.
02:34Box office analysts put Parasite's final U.S. gross
02:37at $50 million or more,
02:38with some saying the film could even approach $60 million.
02:41Parasite is the first non-English language film
02:43to ever win the Academy Award for Best Picture.
02:46It also won for Best Director, Best Original Screenplay,
02:49and Best International Picture.
02:51Finally, Tiffany Boone is addressing her 2018 exit
02:54from Showtime's The Shy,
02:56following her sexual misconduct claims
02:57against her then-co-star, Jason Mitchell.
03:00Neha Joy has more on that story, too.
03:02Boone opened up on her Instagram account,
03:04further explaining her decision to leave the series,
03:06saying she deeply loved Chicago and felt honored
03:09and privileged to be a part of telling their story,
03:11and adding,
03:12you don't carelessly leave a hit show
03:14that is praised by your community.
03:16But she continues,
03:17the weight of what I was leaving behind felt like a ton,
03:19but the weight of my responsibility
03:21to speak up was even heavier.
03:23Following Boone's accusations,
03:24which came alongside similar allegations
03:26from The Shy showrunner, Ayanna Floyd Davis,
03:29against Mitchell,
03:30the actor was subsequently fired from the series.
03:32He was also let go from his job
03:34at Netflix's Desperados,
03:35and was also dropped by his management,
03:37lawyer, and agent.
03:39Boone left The Shy in its second season.
03:41She had previously expressed concerns
03:43about Mitchell's behavior to HR
03:45and to high-level producers during season one,
03:47but she says nothing was ever done
03:49to rectify the situation.
03:51She explains in part,
03:52"'Once we started filming season two,
03:53"'I quickly realized that not everyone was interested
03:56"'in creating a work environment
03:57"'that was conducive to each person
03:59"'feeling safe, seen, and heard.
04:01"'I felt that if I didn't speak up,
04:02"'other voices that were trying to be heard
04:04"'would be silenced.'"
04:05The actress now stars in Jordan Peele's
04:07Amazon show, Hunters,
04:08and the Hulu miniseries, Little Fires Everywhere.
04:11For much more on all these stories
04:12and the latest Hollywood news,
04:13head to THR.com,
04:15and be sure to subscribe to our THR News YouTube channel.
04:18Until next time, for The Hollywood Reporter News,
04:20I'm Tiffany Taylor.
Comments