Box Office Preview: ‘Gran Turismo’ Targets $10 Million Debut, Liam Neeson’s ‘Retribution’ Aims for Single Digits

Liam Neeson’s new action thriller Retribution has been described as in the running for “worst film of the year” by critics.Directed by Nimród Antal (Predators), the film follows financier Matt Turner (Neeson) who is threatened by a mysterious bomber while driving his son and daughter to school. Other cast members include Noma Dumezweni, Lilly Aspell and Jack Champion.It’s the third remake of the 2015 Spanish film The Stranger, following German and Korean adaptations in 2018 and 2021 respectively.Retribution, which was released in the US on August 25, received a negative review on Rolling Stone, who described it as a “formula beaten into submission”.“Retribution is not the worst of his thrillers/action movies – that honour belongs to either last year’s god-awful Blacklight or this freezer-burned turkey – but it does suggest that Neeson may want to consider retiring from the everyman action-hero beat for good,” the review reads.

Liam Neeson is opening up about the time he and Ewan McGregor got reprimanded by George Lucas on the set of Star Wars.

Making a “Star Wars” movie isn’t child’s play.

Can Finbar Murphy escape his past? “In The Land of Saints and Sinners” presents a mysterious man with a dark past who faces a crisis between doing what’s right and facing his own mistakes. Liam Neeson stars as Murphy, a man searching for solace and redemption; it’s yet another film that sees the actor carefully balance his dramatic roots with his recent success in high-profile action hits.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Liam Neeson appeared on a recent episode of the “Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend” podcast (recorded prior to the SAG-AFTRA strike) and again shaded the “Star Wars” franchise for diluting itself with so many sequels and spinoffs. The actor, who played the Jedi master Qui-Gon Jinn in George Lucas’ “Star Wars: The Phantom Menace” (1999), was asked about how often “Star Wars” fans come up to him to ask for an autograph. “Not all the time,” Neeson answered.

Barbie has been dethroned from the top of the UK and Ireland box office after six weeks.As reported by ScreenDaily, The Equalizer 3 starring Denzel Washington took the number one spot in its opening weekend (September 1-3), taking “just shy” of £2million.Barbie fell to second place with takings of £1.6million in its seventh weekend, a 16 per cent drop from the week prior. The film has grossed £92.6million in total in the UK, beating Avengers: Endgame (£88.7million) to become the seventh highest-grossing film of all time in the territory.Others in the top five for the weekend include Oppenheimer (£960,300), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (£619,000) and Sound Of Freedom (£589,456).Barbie had a longer run at the UK box office compared to the US, where DC superhero film Blue Beetle managed to dethrone the film at the top after four weeks.Greta Gerwig’s fantasy comedy recently became the highest-grossing movie of the year, beating The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Oppenheimer and Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol.3.

Michaela Zee “The Equalizer 3” is still on track to earn the second-biggest Labor Day opening weekend in history with an estimated $42.3 million. While the holiday isn’t traditionally a box office draw, Denzel Washington’s assassin-thriller surpassed the previous Labor Day debut runner-up: Rob Zombie’s 2007 “Halloween” remake, which grossed $30 million through Monday. Marvel’s “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” still holds the Labor Day crown with a $94.6 million four-day opening in 2021.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Denzel Washington’s bloody assassin-thriller “The Equalizer 3” debuted at the top of box office charts with $34.5 million over the weekend and an estimated $41 million through Monday’s Labor Day holiday. It’s the second-biggest Labor Day opening weekend in modern times, though the holiday isn’t known for bringing people to the movies. After the record-holder Marvel’s 2021 blockbuster “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” ($75 million for the three days, $94.6 million through Monday), the next highest-grossing Labor Day debut is Rob Zombie’s 2007 “Halloween” remake ($26 million for the three days, $30 million through Monday).

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Denzel Washington’s assassin thriller “The Equalizer 3” is gunning for the top spot on box office charts over Labor Day weekend. The R-rated film is projected to earn $28 million to $30 million between Friday and Sunday and $33 million to $40 million through the four-day holiday frame. As this weekend’s only new nationwide release, “Equalizer 3” shouldn’t have any trouble in knocking down the prior box office champion, Sony’s racing drama “Gran Turismo,” which opened to $17.4 million and looks to add $7 million to $9 million in its sophomore outing.

Barbie is no longer holding the box office crown.

Barbie has become the highest-grossing movie in Warner Bros. history.Greta Gerwig’s fantasy comedy passed the $1.342billion mark at the global box office on Monday (August 28), beating Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows – Part 2 to become the company’s highest-grossing film ever, not adjusted for inflation.According to The Hollywood Reporter, Barbie is set to become only the 13th movie in history to cross the $600million mark at the US box office later this week.

Liam Neeson opened up about how a priest’s reaction to him revealing a sin led him to stop going to confession.

Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend” podcast that he ceased going to confession after the priest shamed him for admitting that he indulged in self-pleasure.The “Taken” star began his saga by telling host Conan O’Brien in clip obtained by Entertainment Weekly, that the incident occurred when he was 15.He was living in Ireland at the time and a missionary from Africa had stopped by his parish.“It was a great event when you had a missionary visiting from Africa,” he said. “And he’d be there for a week and you’d go to Mass every night.

Jordan Moreau It’s off to the races for Sony’s video game adaptation “Gran Turismo,” which opens in theaters this weekend. The racing drama, starring Archie Madekwe, David Harbour and Orlando Bloom, made $1.4 million in Thursday previews at the box office. The film is expected to open between $10 million and $12 million this weekend.

Margot Robbie had a failed audition for American Horror Story: Asylum, it’s been revealed.In an interview with Backstage, AHS casting director Eric Dawson said that Robbie’s audition for an unknown role — which many fans believe to be Lizzie Brochere’s Grace — is one of his favourite auditions ever.“Margot has a lot of ‘it’ factors. That’s the tough thing for casting directors who aren’t in the room [anymore] with actors,” said Dawson.“Margot is probably one of my favourite auditions of all time, and it was right before she broke out.

Not only can “Barbie” be anything, she can do anything too, so it seems.

No wonder the writers are on strike. Being forced to try to bring freshness to the same tired ideas over and over to get some studio work must be frustrating. I would be picketing Lionsgate (who is behind this movie) just because it’s really not easy making this kind of thing original. The latest ripoff — and it literally is because it comes from the 2015 Spanish film El Desconocido, which itself has been remade more than once in the past few years — is the Liam Neeson starring Retribution. A better title might be Generic Neeson #9. I even looked up the title on IMDb just to make sure this was a new Neeson movie.

As Barbie becomes the highest grossing film of 2023 today at the domestic box office with north of $574.2M, Warner Bros and Imax have announced that the Greta Gerwig-directed movie is getting a one week release on Sept. 22 in Imax both in North American and selection locations around the world.

In the midst of a weekend with National Cinema Day, in addition to several previews, Sony’s feature take of PlayStation game, Gran Turismo, is bound to take No. 1 at the box office. This despite the fact that tracking has lowered its projections on the film down to $12M from $15M.

Editor’s note: Dade Hayes and Jonathan Bing are co-authors of Open Wide: How Hollywood Box-Office Became a National Obsession. Hayes is Deadline’s Business Editor and Bing is Chief Communications Officer at Vice Media Group.