Hello! Welcome to another edition of The Monitor, WIRED's culture news roundup. What's in store this fine day? Well, for one, Spider-Man: Far From Home is still a blockbuster. For another, there might be a new 007 soon, and Avengers: Endgame just lost a box-office battle. Keep reading to catch up.
Spider-Man: Far From Home continued its box-office domination this weekend, bringing in $45.3 million domestically. With no new tentpole movies hitting theaters on Friday, it was a pretty easy victory for the web slinger, whose latest film has made $850 million globally. His dominance, however, likely won't last long. Disney's remake of The Lion King hits theaters this weekend and is already making bank in China, so chances are it'll bring in a pretty big haul when it opens stateside.
OK, this one takes some explaining. Over the weekend, thanks to a report in the Daily Mail, rumors started circulating that Daniel Craig's James Bond was going to pass the torch, er, martini glass to a new 007 in the next Bond film. The next person rumored to be playing the iconic British spy? Lashana Lynch, the actress perhaps best known as Captain Marvel's Maria Rambeau. Reportedly, Lynch won't take over as James Bond but will be given his codename in the upcoming 25th Bond film. The news still seems unconfirmed, so take this with a grain of salt, but don't be surprised if the next 007 movie comes with a really big twist.
The Farewell, A24's indie dramedy starring Awkwafina, just beat Avengers: Endgame at the box office in one key metric: per-screen average. The film, which opened in four venues this past weekend—two in New York and two in Los Angeles—brought in just $351,330, which is far from the millions Endgame earned, but that translates to a $87,833 per venue. The latest Avengers flick made $76,601 per screen, placing it second behind The Farewell for best average of 2019.
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