Written by Jon Williams
Eleven years
and twenty-two movies in, the Marvel
Cinematic Universe is stronger than ever. In its first weekend of release,
the highly anticipated Avengers:
Endgame set a record with over $356 million made at the box office.
That’s nearly $100 million more than the previous record holder for opening
weekend box office gross—last year’s Avengers:
Infinity War, which this movie follows on from. And with the entire
weekend box office totaling $392 million, Endgame
enjoyed a staggering 90% market share. 1 (It’s also worth noting that
the weekend’s second place movie was also from Marvel— Captain
Marvel, adding $8 million to its current $414 million total in its
eighth weekend of release.)
The numbers
are even more astounding on a global scale. Endgame
brought in over $1.2 billion around the globe. Fewer than 40 movies have made
over a billion dollars in the entirety of their theatrical runs, and Endgame did it in just one weekend.2
Infinity War was the previous record
holder in this regard as well; it took 11 days to cross the billion
dollar-mark.3
Ticket sales
for Endgame are likely to remain
strong for the foreseeable future, as those who weren’t able to secure tickets
for opening weekend look to see it for the first time and as die-hard Marvel
fans return for repeat viewings. With that being the case, more box office
records are sure to fall, with all-time marks in its sights. Topping the $937
million domestic record of Star
Wars: The Force Awakens and the $2.8 billion global record of Avatar
will be a tall order, but both are certainly within the realm of possibility.
These films
are popular with library patrons as well as moviegoers. Use the links above to
pre-order Avengers: Endgame and Captain Marvel and get them on your
shelves as soon as they are available, and SmartBrowse on our website to find
other entries in the ever-popular MCU.
Written by Jon Williams
Taylor Swift
has had social media buzzing lately. Starting on April 13, each day she posted
a cryptic photo to her Twitter
and Instagram accounts
with the caption “4.26.” It culminated on Thursday with the unveiling of a butterfly mural by artist
Kelsey Montague at Nashville’s famed Gulch neighbourhood, and the wait ended
at midnight with the release of her new video and single, “Me!” Full details on her forthcoming
seventh album haven’t yet been announced, but she has assured fans that it will
be releasing soon.
Swift is
hardly a stranger to buzz, as she’s been a sensation for most of her life.
Developing a passion for music at a young age, she signed her first record deal
when she was just fourteen years old. After developing her songwriting voice
and her musical chops, she burst onto the country music scene in 2006 with her self-titled
debut album at the age of sixteen. While it never made to the top of the album charts (it peaked at #5), its staying power made it the longest-charting
album of the 2000s, and it has been certified 7X platinum. She followed that up
in 2008 with Fearless,
a diamond-selling monster hit that won two Grammy Awards (including Album of
the Year) and made her a bona fide star. Then two years later, in 2010, came Speak
Now, which sold more than a million copies in its first week alone and
has since gone platinum six times over.
Through her
first three albums, Swift’s sound was primarily country, with more and more pop
sensibility being added on each disc. That pop sound came even more into the
forefront on 2012’s Red,
another multiplatinum-selling success. She left the country sound behind
altogether on her fifth album, 1989,
and was rewarded with a 9X platinum smash hit that gave her a second Album of
the Year Grammy and which was covered
in its entirety by Ryan Adams. She gave her pop sound a darker edge on 2017’s
Reputation,
which is her most recent album release leading into her much-anticipated
seventh. If the candy-coloured video and bright tones of “Me!” are any
indication, the tone of her upcoming album will be a 180-degree departure from Reputation.
As if her
stellar music career weren’t enough, Swift has also dabbled in the acting side
of the entertainment industry. She started with a role in a 2009 episode of CSI,
and made her feature film debut as part of the ensemble cast of 2010’s Valentine’s
Day. In 2012 she voiced the character of Audrey in the animated
adaptation of Dr. Seuss’s The
Lorax. She returned to TV for an episode of New
Girl in 2013, and appeared in the 2014 adaptation of the beloved YA
novel The
Giver. She has taken a break since then, but will be starring alongside
such names as Idris Elba, Rebel Wilson, and Ian McKellen in the upcoming movie
version of Cats, coming to theatres
this December.
Taylor Swift’s
new album will be one of the biggest music releases of the year. Your patrons
will be looking for it as soon as it is released, and her back catalog will be
in demand as well. Stay tuned for more information on the album as it becomes
available, and SmartBrowse her name on our website for live albums, karaoke and
lullaby discs, bio videos, and more. Also, make sure to let your patrons know
that her music and plenty of other content is available for checkout from hoopla digital, all
with no waiting or late fees!
Written by Jon Williams
This Sunday begins the long-awaited and highly anticipated
eighth season of the hit HBO show Game of Thrones. The abbreviated
final season will consist of just six episodes (although four of those will run
around 80 minutes, 20 more than the typical episode) and will culminate in the
series finale on May 19. Over the course of the show’s seven seasons to date,
its ratings have continued to climb, making it one of the most-watched cable
series. With nearly two years of hype building up since the Season
7 finale that aired on August 27, 2017, plus the anticipation of who—if
anyone—will survive to take the Iron Throne, the eighth season’s viewership
numbers are sure to set new records, and the series finale will likely go down
as one of the most watched of all time.
On network television, of course, those numbers are
untouchable. The series finale of M*A*S*H on February 28, 1983, drew
upwards of 105 million viewers, making it the most-watched television episode
ever. The only other broadcasts that garner that type of viewership are the
American Super Bowl each year. The closest any show has come since was ten years later,
with the series finale of the hit sitcom Cheers, which came in at 84 million
on May 20, 1993. Before M*A*S*H, the
record was held by the wrap-up of The Fugitive on August 29, 1967,
watched by 78 million people. Rounding out the top five most-watched series
finales are two more sitcoms: Seinfeld (May 14, 1998) with 76
million and Friends (May 16, 2004) with 52
million. In the realm of science fiction and fantasy, the record is held by Star Trek: The Next Generation,
which came to an end on May 23, 1994, with an audience of 31 million.
Network broadcasts, though, have always had the advantage of
being available to anyone with a television set, without the necessity of
additional equipment or subscription fees. That’s why ratings for shows airing
on cable networks are measured in a category of their own. For cable series,
the top two most-watched series finales belong to HBO, the same network that
airs Game of Thrones. First up is the
mob drama The Sopranos, whose controversial
blackout ending aired June 10, 2007, to 11.9 viewers. Coming in second, and
holding the top spot until The Sopranos
came along, is Sex and the City, which bowed to an
audience of 10.6 million on February 22, 2004. Those numbers are especially
impressive considering HBO is a premium network which has traditionally
required an additional subscription fee on top of a cable package. Then in
third place is the acclaimed AMC drama Breaking
Bad, which, like Game of Thrones,
started off to relatively modest ratings and then steadily built over time.
That show finished up on September 29, 2013, with 10.3 million viewers.
So how will the Game
of Thrones finale fare? Obviously it won’t approach the numbers of network
shows like M*A*S*H or even Friends, but it has an excellent chance
of setting a new record for cable shows. Season 7 averaged upwards of 10
million viewers, and the season finale drew over 12 million. With anticipation
at an all-time high, the numbers for Season 8 should leave those behind easily.
And with two more novels to come in George R.R. Martin’s novel
series and a spinoff series in production from HBO, the fever is sure to
last for years to come.
Written by Jon Williams
This coming
weekend, the biggest American sporting event of the year will take place. Super Bowl
LIII will determine the year’s NFL championship in a matchup between the Los
Angeles Rams and the New England Patriots. Beyond its implications for the
sport, the Super Bowl has become a huge cultural event, with over a hundred
million people likely to watch in North America. Even people who normally don’t
follow football tune in—for the camaraderie of sharing the event with friends,
for the innovative commercials that air during the broadcast, and, of course,
for the halftime musical entertainment.
With such a
wide audience, it’s no wonder that the halftime show is such a coveted slot for
musicians. The featured performer this year will be multiplatinum rock band Maroon
5. They’ve been a fixture in the music scene since 2004, when singles like “This
Love” and “Sunday Morning” propelled their debut album, Songs
About Jane, to multiplatinum status. They’ve released five more studio
albums since then, all of them selling over a million copies. Their most
recent, Red
Pill Blues, was released in 2017, driven by singles like “What Lovers
Do” (featuring SZA) and “Girls Like You” (featuring Cardi B). Singer Adam
Levine has also helped to keep the band in the spotlight by serving as a judge
on the hit musical talent show The Voice since its inception in 2011.
Traditionally
the Super Bowl halftime show is a collaborative affair, and this year is no
different. One musician joining Maroon 5 for the festivities will be rapper Travis
Scott. After several EPs and mixtapes, his debut album Rodeo
was released in 2015 and went platinum on the strength of singles “3500” and
Antidote, as well as guest appearances from stars like Kanye West, Justin
Bieber, and the Weekend, to name just a few. He followed that up in 2016 with Birds
in the Trap Sing McKnight, another platinum outing. His newest album, Astroworld,
was released in August of last year and is still a staple near the top of the
Billboard albums chart. Scott is nominated for three awards at this year’s
Grammys, which will take place a week after the Super Bowl.
Another
musician joining Maroon 5 and Travis Scott onstage will be Big
Boi, who hails from the Super Bowl’s host city of Atlanta. Along with Andre
3000 as the multiplatinum hip-hop duo Outkast,
Big Boi came into the spotlight in the mid-1990s. The duo has released six
albums together and won six Grammy Awards, including Best Rap Album and Album
of the Year for Speakerboxxx/The
Love Below in 2003. Since their last album together in 2006, Big Boi
has focused on his solo career. His debut, Sir
Luscious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty, came out in 2010. He’s
followed it up with two more albums, the most recent of which, Boomiverse,
came out in 2017.
While the
halftime show is the musical focal point of the Super Bowl, it’s also an
enormous honour for a musician to get the opportunity to sing "The Star-Spangled Banner" before the game kicks off. This year that honour goes to another Atlanta
native, Gladys
Knight. With a career dating back to the early 1960s, she is a true
R&B/soul music legend, both with her band the Pips and on her own. Known
for her early work, she has continued to record, with her most recent album, Where
My Heart Belongs, coming in 2014.
With so many
people watching the Super Bowl and its musical performances, patrons will no
doubt be interested in hearing more from these incredible artists. Make sure to
have plenty of their CDs on your shelves, and if your library is a hoopla Digital customer, don’t forget
to direct your patrons there as well—they’ll find these artists and more,
available with no holds, no waiting, and no late fees.
Written by Jon Williams
Last week we
finally got a premiere date for the return of one of television’s most
acclaimed and popular shows. On April 14, the eighth and final season of Game
of Thrones will debut on HBO. The finale of season
seven aired on August 27, 2017, so fans have been not-so-patiently waiting
for nearly two years for it to return. Game
of Thrones has become known over the years for its shocking plot twists,
and the six-episode final season is sure to deliver plenty of drama and action
as the fate of Westeros is decided.
A number of
beloved shows are coming to an end in 2019. Out today on Netflix are the final six
episodes of The
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, the award-winning comedy series created by Tina
Fey. In the comedy realm, both Veep
and Broad
City will take a bow with one last season each. The currently airing
season five of Gotham
will be its last, while Elementary
will wrap after its upcoming seventh season. The fifth season of zombie
detective show iZombie
will end that story. The streaming prison drama Orange
Is the New Black will also come to a conclusion after its seventh
season, while the action-packed spy series Homeland
will finish with its eighth. Finally, Academy Award nominee Rami Malek is back
for one last round of the acclaimed Mr.
Robot as its fourth season will be its last.
However, for
all the series coming to an end, there are a number of new shows premiering
that will vie for the attention of viewers looking for something to watch. Coming
next month is Miracle Workers, a Heaven-set
comedy based on the novel What
in God’s Name by Simon Rich and starring Steve
Buscemi and Daniel
Radcliffe. Also coming in February is Boomerang,
which follows the 1992 Eddie Murphy movie
of the same name. In March, look for Turn
Up Charlie, a streaming comedy created by and starring Idris
Elba as a washed-up DJ who takes on child care duties for his friend’s
daughter. Horror fans can look forward to NOS4A2, a series based on the novel
of the same name by Joe
Hill. And later this year, live-action Star
Wars finally comes to the small screen with The Mandalorian, a series created by Jon Favreau and set between Return
of the Jedi and The
Force Awakens.
There are
also a number of limited series and one-time television events for viewers to
look forward to. This weekend will see a live production of Rent,
the popular musical that made its stage debut in 1996 and came to theatres in 2005.
On Monday comes the first episode of I Am
the Night, a six-episode miniseries starring Chris
Pine and directed by Wonder Woman’s
Patty
Jenkins. In March, Cosmos: Possible
Worlds, starring Neil
deGrasse Tyson, follows up the popular 2014
scientific series that itself followed on Carl Sagan’s 1980
show. Beginning in April is a six-episode miniseries adaptation of Les Miserables, a non-musical version
based directly on Victor
Hugo’s 1862 novel. Then in May comes a live production of the musical Hair, which originally came to the stage
in 1967 and was adapted
for film in 1979.
And then
there are the shows that are coming back for another season, but not ending.
Next month The
Walking Dead returns from its midseason hiatus, carrying on after the
departure of Andrew
Lincoln, whose character, Rick Grimes, has served as the show’s main
character up to this point. When that season ends, the spinoff, Fear
the Walking Dead, will return for its fifth season. American
Gods, adapted from Neil
Gaiman’s novel, returns for a second season in March. Also in March comes
the fourth season of the Showtime drama Billions,
while April brings the return of the acclaimed Killing
Eve. This year will also see the long-awaited third season of the hit
sci-fi/horror series Stranger
Things after a nearly two-year wait.
Television
is in the middle of a golden age, with so many quality shows that it’s
difficult to keep up with everything. With so many viewers perfectly content to
sit down for marathon binge-watching sessions, you can help keep your patrons
happy and entertained for hours on end by making sure your television
collections are robust and up to date. Use the links above or SmartBrowse on
our website to find more, and let us know what you and your patrons are looking
forward to watching in 2019.
Written by Jon Williams
With the Golden Globes taking place this past weekend,
awards season is officially in full swing. As we look back and celebrate the
best of 2018, let’s also take a peek ahead at some of the delights that 2019
has in store for us at the box office.
Marvel movies have dominated the box office for years, and
fans are eagerly anticipating a conclusion to the galaxy-altering conflict that
was set up in last year’s Avengers:
Infinity War. That will come in April, when Avengers: Endgame brings the heroes’ conflict with Thanos to a
close and resolves their fates—for better or worse. Before that, though, comes Captain Marvel in March, starring Brie
Larson as the titular superhero in a ‘90s-set adventure that
introduces her to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Then, in July, Spider-Man: Far from Home gives Tom
Holland’s popular webslinger a second
standalone and the MCU its first foray into its next round of
adventures.
Live-action remakes of animated Disney classics have proven
to be popular, and 2019 has some big ones coming. First up is Tim
Burton’s take on Dumbo,
the 1941 tale of a bullied elephant who eventually becomes the star of the
circus when he realizes his large ears can help him to fly. Then in May, as
summer movie season is rounding into full swing, comes Aladdin, starring Will
Smith in the role of the genie who helps humble beggar Aladdin win
the heart of Princess Jasmine. July will see the release of The
Lion King, which sees Jon
Favreau direct a star-studded ensemble cast in a photorealistic
update of the 1994 traditionally animated version.
As popular as these live action movies are, animation, both
traditional and digital, is going nowhere. The fourth installment in the Toy
Story franchise is coming in July, nine years after Toy
Story 3 in 2010, while the sequel to the 2013 blockbuster Frozen
is set to hit theatres just before Thanksgiving. Much closer than either of
those, though, is The Lego Movie 2: The
Second Part, the follow-up to Christopher Miller and Phil Lord’s 2014
hit, in theatres next month. Also in February is How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World,
the anticipated final installment in a trilogy that includes films from 2010
and 2014.
Other animated movies coming our way this year include a Secret
Life of Pets sequel (June), an Angry
Birds sequel (August), and a new Addams
Family movie in October.
The horror movie genre has undergone a renaissance in recent
years, and that looks to continue in 2019. It begins in March with Us, an original film from Jordan
Peele, the writer and director behind the 2017 horror hit Get
Out. In April comes Pet Sematary, a new adaptation of Stephen
King’s 1983
novel and a remake of the 1989
film. Speaking of King adaptations, It: Chapter 2, which follows up the highest-grossing
horror film of all time, comes to theatres in September. In between
those two movies, in June, horror fans can look forward to Child’s Play, a reboot of the 1988
movie that spawned six sequels featuring the iconic murderous doll
Chucky. In August, Scary Stories to Tell
in the Dark comes out, based on Alvin
Schwartz’s collections of tales that have haunted kids’ dreams since
they debuted in 1981. And while it may not quality as horror, exactly (more of
a “zom-com”), the long-awaited sequel to Zombieland
arrives at last in October.
Need more? Tyler Perry’s Madea
returns in March in A Madea Family
Funeral. David Harbour steps into the horn-stumps for a Hellboy
reboot in April. Keanu Reeves is back for a third round as John
Wick in May, while a new generation of Men
in Black hits theatres in June. Quentin
Tarantino’s look at the Manson Family, Once
Upon a Time in Hollywood, comes in July, followed soon after by Hobbs & Shaw, a Fast
and Furious spinoff. In September, Downton
Abbey will make the jump from the small screen to the big screen, while
October will bring adaptations of the popular novels The
Woman in the Window and The
Goldfinch. In November, a third installment of the Kinsgman
series is on its way, before the year finishes strong in December with a new Jumanji
movie and, of course, the third and final film in the Star
Wars sequel trilogy.
So that’s just some of what’s on our radar for 2019 at the
box office, and you can be sure that it’s just a fraction of all the good stuff
that’s coming our way. Let us know what you and your patrons are looking
forward to, and stay tuned for information on when these movies will be
available for you to add to your collections.
Written by Jon Williams
Last week
the 2019 slate of inductees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was announced.
This year’s class comprises seven bands and solo acts: Stevie Nicks, Janet
Jackson, Def Leppard, the Cure, Radiohead, Roxy Music, and the Zombies. The
induction ceremony will be held on Friday, March 29, 2019, at the Barclays
Center in Brooklyn, New York. Here is a brief look at each of the acts joining
the ranks of the Hall’s famous and influential members.
Stevie
Nicks is the first woman to be inducted twice, as she is already included
as a member of the band Fleetwood
Mac, inducted in 1998. Her solo career, which is being honoured this
time around, began with the release of the album Bella
Donna in 1981. Driven by the hit “Edge of Seventeen” as well as
collaborations with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (“Stop Draggin’ My Heart
Around”) and Don Henley (“Leather and Lace”), it hit number one on Billboard’s
album chart. Since then, she has continued to tour and record with Fleetwood
Mac while maintaining a stellar solo career as well, releasing eight studio
albums under her own name, most recently 24
Karat Gold: Songs from the Vault in 2014.
Janet
Jackson will take her place in the Hall alongside her famous brothers as a
member of this year’s class—the Jackson 5 were inducted in 1997, and Michael
Jackson joined as a solo artist in 2001. From an obviously musical family,
Janet’s entrance into the world of entertainment actually started with acting.
Still, she couldn’t escape the world of music, beginning her recording career
as a teenager. Her breakout came with her third album, Control,
released in 1986, shortly before her 20 th birthday. She has gone on
to record eleven albums, with the most recent being 2015’s Unbreakable.
Def
Leppard was one of the biggest rock bands in the world in the 1980s, but
they have refused to be defined or constrained by the “hair metal” label. Forming
in the late ‘70s, their debut album On
Through the Night came out in 1980. Pyromania
(1983) and Hysteria
(1987) were two of the biggest albums of the decade, dominating the charts and
spawning a number of singles. The band suffered through such tragedies as
drummer Rick Allen losing his left arm in a car accident and the passing of
guitarist Steve Clark, and their star dimmed as pop metal declined in
popularity as grunge ascended. Nevertheless, they have persevered, continuing
to tour and record to this day. Their latest album, the self-titled Def
Leppard, came out in 2015.
The
Cure formed around the same time and have undergone a number of lineup
changes in their forty-plus years, with frontman Robert Smith being the only
constant member. Their debut album, 1979’s Three
Imaginary Boys, kicked off a rather prolific career that saw them
release thirteen albums in thirty years, culminating in 2008’s 4:13 Dream (currently unavailable).
While the Cure has not released an album since then, the band has been touring,
and there are plans to record and release new music in 2019 in celebration of
the fortieth anniversary of their debut.
Radiohead is
the “newest” act of this group, forming in 1985 and bursting onto the scene
with the single “Creep” in 1992. That landed on their 1993 debut album Pablo
Honey, the first of their nine albums, the newest of which is 2016’s A
Moon Shaped Pool. The band has continued to experiment and evolve
throughout their career and the accolades have followed, winning the Grammy
Award for Best Alternative Music Album three times. Their most recent release
is a 20th
anniversary edition of their 1997 album OK
Computer with new tracks, and members Jonny Greenwood and Thom Yorke
have also gained acclaim in the world of film music.
Roxy
Music is a highly influential art rock band that came together in 1970 and
released their self-titled debut
album in 1972. Their recording career lasted just ten years, but they put
out eight albums in that time, the last being Avalon
in 1982. Since then, the band has been an on-again off-again venture, with the
individual members often contributing to lead singer Bryan
Ferry’s solo albums. That was the case with 2010’s Olympia (currently unavailable), originally conceived as a Roxy
Music album and even featuring Brian
Eno for the first time since 1973’s For
Your Pleasure, but eventually released under Ferry’s name.
The
Zombies are the oldest act joining the Hall in 2019, forming in 1961. The band
put out just two albums in the 1960s—their 1965
debut and 1968’s Odessey
and Oracle. They disbanded around the time of that second album’s
release and didn’t reunite until 1991, when they recorded the album New World (currently unavailable) and
then split again. Singer Colin Blunstone and keyboardist Rod Argent got back
together in 1999 and have continued to tour and record since, with their most
recent album being 2015’s Still
Got That Hunger.
In 2019
these musicians will cement their legendary status as they join the ranks of
the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and your music-loving patrons will want to
discover or re-discover their catalogues. Make sure you have plenty of their
incredible tunes available—use the links above or SmartBrowse on our website to
find their albums as well as concert films and other related media we have
available.
|
Contact Us
