BREAKING Another suspect arrested in Toronto Pearson airport gold heist: police
Another suspect is in custody in connection with the gold heist at Toronto Pearson International Airport last year, police say.
Moviegoing audiences chose the horror movie over the romantic comedy to kick off the month of October. Paramount's "Smile " topped the North American charts with US$22 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday, leaving Billy Eichner's rom-com "Bros" in the dust.
Universal's " Bros " launched with an estimated $4.8 million to take fourth place behind "Don't Worry Darling" (US$7.3 million) and "The Woman King" (US$7 million). But opening weekends likely aren't the final word on either "Bros" or "Smile." Horror movie audiences are generally front-loaded, dropping off steeply after the first weekend, while something like "Bros," which got great reviews and an A CinemaScore, suggesting strong word-of-mouth potential, is a movie that could continue finding audiences through the fall. It is not unusual for R-rated comedies to open modestly and catch on later.
"Everyone who sees it absolutely loves it," said Jim Orr, Universal's president of domestic distribution. "Billy Eichner, (director) Nick Stoller and Judd Apatow have created a movie that's heartwarming and hysterically funny."
"Bros" is significant for being the first gay rom-com given a wide theatrical release by a major studio, as well as the first studio movie starring and co-written by an openly gay man. Since premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival last month, the film has gotten stellar reviews from critics and also been the target of "review bombs" on IMDB. The site last week removed removed hundreds of one-star reviews for "Bros" that were logged before the film was released.
It's also hard to compete with a new horror movie in October. "Smile," written and directed by Parker Finn in his directorial debut, stars Sosie Bacon as a therapist haunted by smiling faces after a traumatic event.
According to exit polls, 52 per cent of the audience was male and 68 per cent were ages 18-34 for the R-rated film. Playing in 3,645 locations, "Smile" started strong with US$2 million from Thursday night previews, too, and had a 4 per cent uptick Saturday, which is almost unheard of for genre films that usually decline after the first night.
"Smile" also cost only US$17 million to produce.
"It's remarkable, particularly when you take the budget into account. It's just a terrific result and validated our thoughts about the movie as a whole," said Chris Aronson, Paramount's president of domestic distribution. "That Saturday uptick bodes well for the long-term playability."
The "Smile" marketing team last weekend planted smiling actors at baseball games around the country as a marketing stunt, which Aronson said helped push the movie over the top.
"'Smile' just shows once again that the horror genre should be put on a pedestal by theater owners," said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for Comscore.
Second place went to "Don't Worry Darling" in its second weekend in theaters, with US$7.3 million, down 64 per cent from its opening. The mid-century-styled psychological thriller starring Florence Pugh and Harry Styles has earned $32.8 million domestically against a US$35 million production budget.
And "The Woman King" was close behind in third place in its third weekend, with an estimated US$7 million, down only 36 per cent from last weekend. The historical war epic directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood stars Viola Davis as an Agojie general and has made US$46.7 million.
Rounding out the top five was the re-release of "Avatar," with US$4.7 million from 1,860 locations.
Notably, the film with the highest per-theater average was the Indian epic "Ponniyin Selvan: I," which earned $4.1 million from just 510 theaters. It's one of several Indian blockbusters to perform well in North America recently, including "RRR" and "Brahmastra Part 1: Shiva."
"It was a solid weekend," Dergarabedian said. "We're not going to get into the US$100 million-plus weekends until 'Black Adam,' but audiences are getting a really diverse slate of movies to see on the big screen."
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
Another suspect is in custody in connection with the gold heist at Toronto Pearson International Airport last year, police say.
Hailey and Justin Bieber are going to be parents. The couple announced the news on Thursday on Instagram, both sharing a video that showcases Hailey Bieber's growing belly.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
A Conservative government led by Pierre Poilievre would not legislate on, nor use the notwithstanding clause, on abortion, his office says, as anti-abortion protesters gather on Parliament Hill.
A southwestern Ontario woman has received an $8,400 bill from a hospital in Windsor, Ont., after she refused to put her mother in a nursing home she hated -- and she says she has no intention of paying it.
Studies have shown that ultraprocessed foods can have a detrimental impact on health. But 30 years of research show they don’t all have the same impact.
Miss Teen USA resigned Wednesday, sending further shock waves through the pageant community just days after Miss USA said she would relinquish her crown.
For some immigrants, their dreams of permanently settling in Canada have taken an unexpected twist.
A video circulating on social media of a young girl being hit by a bike has some calling for better safety and more caution when designing bike lanes in the city. The video shows a four-year-old girl crossing Jeanne-Mance Street in Montreal's Plateau neighbourhood to get on a school bus stopped on the opposite side of the street
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.
The Canada Science and Technology Museum is inviting visitors to explore their poop. A new exhibition opens at the Ottawa museum on Friday called, 'Oh Crap! Rethinking human waste.'
The Regina Police Service says it is the first in Saskatchewan and possibly Canada to implement new technology in its detention facility that will offer real-time monitoring of detainees’ vital health metrics.
The stakes have been set for a bet between Vancouver and Edmonton's mayors on who will win Round 2 of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
A grieving mother is hosting a helmet drive in the hopes of protecting children on Manitoba First Nations from a similar tragedy that killed her daughter.
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
A P.E.I. lighthouse and a New Brunswick river are being honoured in a Canada Post series.
An Ontario man says he paid more than $7,700 for a luxury villa he found on a popular travel website -- but the listing was fake.
Whether passionate about Poirot or hungry for Holmes, Winnipeg mystery obsessives have had a local haunt for over 30 years in which to search out their latest page-turners.