Next Year's Box Office May Top 2018's Huge Year for Movies
*By Conor White*
After a disappointing 2017, 2018 was a record-breaking year for the U.S. box office, as moviegoers shelled out more than $11.38 billion to see films like "Avengers: Infinity War," "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom," and "Mission Impossible: Fallout." But 2019 could be an even more important year for theaters.
**Disney Set to Dominate**
Disney was responsible for five of the top ten grossing films in 2018, including the top three: "Black Panther," the aforementioned "Avengers: Infinity War," and "Incredibles 2." Don't expect its stranglehold to loosen next year either. Here are just a few of the movies the House of Mouse will be releasing in 2019: "Avengers: Endgame," "Captain Marvel," "The Lion King," "Aladdin," "Dumbo," "Toy Story 4," and "Star Wars: Episode XI."
**The Memory of MoviePass**
After a turbulent 2018, which included several price changes and plan alterations, MoviePass is on life support, but the movie ticket subscription concept isn't going anywhere. Just six months after launching, AMC's A-List has 600,000 members while others like Sinemia and Cinemark's Movie Club are also finding success. Alamo Drafthouse's Season Pass is currently in beta, and other theater chains like Regal are expected to introduce their own options by the end of 2019 as well. Unfortunately it seems MoviePass will have to die in order for other subscription services to live. Parent company Helios and Matheson's stock is currently trading at two cents per share, a 100 percent decrease from the beginning of 2018.
**Apple's Bite Out of the Box Office**
The dark horse for movies in 2019? Apple. A24, the company behind Oscar winners like "Moonlight," "Room," and "Ex Machina" has signed a multi-year deal to produce films for the tech behemoth, but much isn't known beyond that. Will Apple aim for Disney and Marvel's blockbuster crown? Will the films be in theaters, or follow Netflix's path? Whatever it decides to do, Apple is set to impact yet another industry, and sooner than most people think.
A Michigan judge is putting sponges in the hands of shoplifters and ordering them to wash cars in a Walmart parking lot when spring weather arrives. Genesee County Judge Jeffrey Clothier hopes the unusual form of community service discourages people from stealing from Walmart. The judge also wants to reward shoppers with free car washes. Clothier says he began ordering “Walmart wash” sentences this week for shoplifting at the store in Grand Blanc Township. He believes 75 to 100 people eventually will be ordered to wash cars this spring. Clothier says he will be washing cars alongside them when the time comes.
The State Department had been in talks with Elon Musk’s Tesla company to buy armored electric vehicles, but the plans have been put on hold by the Trump administration after reports emerged about a potential $400 million purchase. A State Department spokesperson said the electric car company owned by Musk was the only one that expressed interest back in May 2024. The deal with Tesla was only in its planning phases but it was forecast to be the largest contract of the year. It shows how some of his wealth has come and was still expected to come from taxpayers.
At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.
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It’s a chicken-and-egg problem: Restaurants are struggling with record-high U.S. egg prices, but their omelets, scrambles and huevos rancheros may be part of the problem. Breakfast is booming at U.S. eateries. First Watch, a restaurant chain that serves breakfast, brunch and lunch, nearly quadrupled its locations over the past decade to 570. Fast-food chains like Starbucks and Wendy's added more egg-filled breakfast items. In normal times, egg producers could meet the demand. But a bird flu outbreak that has forced them to slaughter their flocks is making supplies scarcer and pushing up prices. Some restaurants like Waffle House have added a surcharge to offset their costs.
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U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum “will not go unanswered,” European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen vowed on Tuesday, adding that they will trigger toug