Movies

Box Office: 'Annabelle Comes Home' Scores Promising $7.2M on Opening Day. The horror pic came in No. 2 on Wednesday behind 'Toy Story 4,' which will jump the $200 million mark in the next few days. New Line's Annabelle Comes Home opened to $7.2 million on Wednesday, a promising number for a horror pic opening midweek. That puts the movie on course for a five-day opening in the $30 million to $33 million range, in line with expectations. Wednesday's gross included $3.5 million in preview grosses. Playing in 3,525 theaters, Annabelle came in second behind Toy Story 4, which earned another $12.3 million for a domestic tally of nearly $170 million. The Pixar and Disney title is doing impressive midweek after opening to $120.9 million last weekend and will have no trouble staying atop the chart this weekend. Annabelle Comes Home is the seventh title in the Conjuring Universe, and the third Annabelle installment. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise their roles as Ed and Lorraine Warren from the Conjuring films, while Gary Dauberman directed from a screenplay co-written by James Wan. In addition to the horror pic, Universal and Working Title's Yesterday also opens nationwide. The film, hitting theaters Friday, is expected to gross $10 million to $14 million in its debut. (Hollywood Reporter)

Think a torn ACL could stop Klay Thompson from shooting "Space Jam 2?!" Think again!! The Golden State Warriors superstar crutched his way on to the L.A. movie set on Wednesday -- just weeks after injuring his knee during Game 6 of the NBA Finals. Thompson was greeted by LeBron James himself -- who's starring in and producing the flick -- and the two talked it out for a while in front of the production crew. Other stars on the set included Anthony Davis and Damian Lillard. The guy wearing #23 appears to be Draymond Green. We're told the scene is set at an All-Star game -- there doesn't appear to be any Monstars present! The production has been shooting all over Los Angeles -- including at the home of NBA superfan Jimmy Goldstein ... the super-rich guy who's always rocking a cowboy hat at NBA games. Goldstein owns a famous home in the Hollywood Hills -- and he custom built an "infinity" basketball court in his back yard just for LeBron. As we previously reported, Bron reached out to several NBA stars to participate in the movie -- but not everyone agreed ... Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo turned down a role claiming he didn't want to take his focus away from training. (TMZ)

Oren Aviv to Exit STX Entertainment. Aviv is in discussions about leaving the company's motion picture group, while remaining on board as a consultant. Oren Aviv is set to depart STX Entertainment's motion picture group, while remaining attached as a consultant. "Oren is transitioning from his full-time duties at STX and I'm happy to say that he will remain on as a strategic consultant for us as we begin our push into the next phase of the UglyDolls franchise with our animated series at Hulu," said Robert Simonds, chairman and CEO of STX, in a statement received by The Hollywood Reporter. Aviv's exit comes in the wake of Ugly Dolls, a big budget inhouse production that bombed at the box office in May. The family film, which had hoped to launch a franchise, grossed just $20.1 million domestically and another $6 million overseas. "We thank Oren for his many contributions to STX since the company's inception and look forward to his continued advice and counsel in this new capacity. We wish him nothing but success in his future endeavors, and I personally want to thank him for his many years of friendship and support," Simmonds added. Aviv arrived at STX Entertainment in 2014. More to come... (Hollywood Reporter)

Participant's Jeff Skoll, David Linde to Receive Toronto Fest Tribute. The duo will receive the TIFF Impact award after their Oscar winner 'Green Book' earned the top People's Choice at Toronto last year. After the Oscar winner Green Book by director Peter Farrelly earned the top People's Choice award at last year's Toronto Film Festival, Jeff Skoll and David Linde's production banner Participant Media is set to be feted in Toronto this September. Participant, which focuses on movies, TV shows, publishing and digital content that inspire and compel social change, will receive the TIFF Impact Award on September 9 at the annual TIFF Tribute Gala. Past films backed by Participant include An Inconvenient Truth, Contagion, The Help, Lincoln, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, The Square and Citizenfour. Participant also produced Alfonso Cuaron's Roma, which earned the best foreign language Oscar and screened in Toronto after earning the top prize at Venice, where the Netflix film debuted. The TIFF Tribute Gala will also introduce a new Mary Pickford Award to honor an emerging female talent to be named in the coming weeks. The annual award is timed for United Artists' 100th anniversary and is named after Pickford, a Toronto native who co-founded the United Artists studio in 1919 with Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, and D.W. Griffith. The 44th Toronto International Film Festival is set to run Sept. 5-15. (Hollywood Reporter)

Himesh Patel's film may be about a world in which The Beatles didn't exist but he definitely felt their presence. In the latest issue of Us Weekly, the actor, 28, reveals the strange moment he experienced while filming in Liverpool, U.K. The cast and director Danny Boyle were set to head to the Strawberry Fields gate but their plan changed last minute. "We were getting ready to go, and we were told actually we were going to be going inside. The plan had changed. So, we went in there. We walked through the big red gates. It was like a building site. Everything had been demolished," he shares. However, the feeling was describable. "What stood there had been demolished. There was just a huge pile of rubble this rusty, old playground and these two massive diggers atop a pile of rubble," Patel recalls. "It was so strange, because it just felt like some sort of weird representation of the story we were telling, about this world in which The Beatles didn't exist and here we were, on this iconic sort of Beatles historical venue. And it had been destroyed." The EastEnders vet continues: "They were rebuilding it into something better for the community, but in the context of the reason that we were there and the story we were telling, it felt really eerie. Danny was like, 'Let's just shoot some stuff.' So, we shot, which I think made the cut, me on the little merry-go-round, just kind of spinning. It felt like some sort of strange ... there were some ghosts, you know, in that place." For more of Patel's interview, pick up Us Weekly, on newsstands now. Yesterday is in theaters Friday, June 28. (US Weekly)

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