Why Prayers Weren’t Answered For ‘Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret’ At Box Office: It’s Complicated

Reba McEntire couldn't be more excited to be officially joining  as a season 24 coach!NBC announced on Monday that the country music legend will officially be stepping in for departing coach Blake Shelton for the next season of the long-running singing competition, set to premiere this fall.Reba will draw from her iconic career as she shares her expertise with hopeful up-and-comers, joining veteran coach John Legend and returning coaches Niall Horan and Gwen Stefani.The news comes after Reba served as the celebrity Mega Mentor for season 23, advising Blake Shelton and his fellow coaches -- Kelly Clarkson and newcomers Niall and Chance the Rapper  -- and their team members ahead of the Knockout Rounds. ET's Cassie DiLaura spoke with Reba at live semifinals on Monday night, where the singer and actress shared why now was the «perfect» time for her to join the show — after turning it down when was first in development in 2011.«The first time I ever heard of I saw the tape from Holland's [version of the show],» she recalled. «They asked me to do it, and I turned it down.»«But I think timing is everything,» Reba added.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Box office headlines have lately been dominated by Hollywood movies like Universal’s “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” which has become the first movie of the year to hit $1 billion, and Disney’s “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3.” But a closer look at the global box office recovery indicates that Tinseltown does not have the field to itself. In fact, international films and markets — not the United States — are driving the current global box office recovery. In some territories, local-language titles are even dominant over Hollywood releases. And the overall scale of overseas ticket sales now dwarfs that of North America by more than two to one.

As Millie Radford prepares to welcome her third baby, the 22 year old TV star reflected on the “hard times” in a cryptic Instagram post. In recent weeks, Millie has ended up in a public spat with her mum Sue, 48, after the 22 Kids and Counting matriarch whisked away a handful of her kids and grandchildren to Disney World, Florida – with Millie’s children not being included.

Kevin Costner reportedly “knew” his wife Christine Kostner was not happy, and a source is opening up about a rumored contributing factor to their breakup.

When supervising locations manager Andrew Buckley was looking for the right location to shoot Matthew Vaughn’s third instalment of the Kingsman franchise The King’s Man, Turin sprung to mind. They were coming to the end of Kingsman: The Golden Circle, where they were shooting in Italy’s Aosta mountains in a place called Courmayeur. 

Jordan Moreau The Guardians of the Galaxy are blasting off at the box office one final time, earning $17.5 million in previews for director James Gunn’s “Vol. 3” finale. The newest entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe will take the box office crown after Universal and Illumination’s “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” topped the charts for the last four weeks. “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” is expected to bring in between $110 million and $120 million in its opening weekend, which is in between the grosses of the previous two films, also directed by Gunn. The first “Guardians of the Galaxy” had $11.2 million in Thursday previews on its way to opening with $94 million back in 2014. Its sequel, 2017’s “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2,” reached $17 million in Thursday previews and landed a $146 million opening weekend.

Jessie Ware recently revealed to NME why she missed out on the opportunity to open for Prince.Speaking to NME for the latest In Conversation series, Ware shared the reason why she had to pass up on the opportunity to open for the late pop icon on his 2014 ‘Hit & Run’ tour – jokingly blaming having to go to Greece to plan for her wedding.“I was supposed to be opening for him at a Birmingham gig,” she said. “I knew he liked me because he used to do these live streams as a DJ, and he started playing ‘Wildest Moments’.

Selome Hailu Now in her eighties, legendary children’s author Judy Blume only recently became keen to the idea of adapting her books for the screen. But when it came to “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret” — arguably Blume’s most famous title — her arms were crossed. She didn’t want any filmmaker to touch it. “And then I got this letter from Kelly,” Blume told Variety, smiling, in a cover story for March’s Power of Women issue. She’s referring to “The Edge of Seventeen” writer-director Kelly Fremon Craig, to whom she eventually granted the screen rights. Blume was convinced for three reasons: the beauty of the letter that Fremon Craig wrote her, the fact that James L. Brooks mentored Fremon Craig and would serve as a producer on the film, and most importantly, the fact that Fremon Craig was the first person to pursue the rights whose work Blume had previously seen. Within a week of the letter, Fremon Craig and Brooks flew to Key West, Fla. to make an in-person plea to Blume; the rest is history. “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret” hit theaters via Lionsgate on April 28.

Global audiences have been gaga for Baba Yaga with Lionsgate/Thunder Road Films/87 Eleven’s John Wick: Chapter 4 now having passed the $400M mark worldwide.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter It’s another weekend of box office domination for “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” which collected a towering $40 million in its fourth frame. Those ticket sales, down just 33% from the weekend prior, were easily enough to rule over the weekend’s newcomers, including literary adaptation “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret,” Finnish war drama “Sisu” and biopic “Big George Foreman.” After four weeks on the big screen, “Mario” has grossed $490 million in North America and $532 million internationally to loom even larger as the highest-grossing film of 2023. It’s also the first movie of the year to cross $1 billion globally, a distinction held by only five pandemic-era blockbusters.

according to IMDB’s Box Office Mojo. The movie based on the popular Nintendo game has earned more than $458 million in the US since opening on April 5 — and is projected to hit the $1 billion global milestone on Sunday, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

J. Kim Murphy Are you there box office? It’s-a me, “Mario.” Now in its fourth weekend of release, “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” is still dominating the competition on domestic charts, fending off theatrical newcomers “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret,” “Sisu” and “Big George Foreman.” The adaptation of Judy Blume’s best-selling 1970 novel is faring the best among new releases. Opening in 3,343 locations, the coming-of-age film earned $2.25 million on Friday, a figure that includes roughly $600,000 in Thursday previews. That may be enough for the Lionsgate release to project a third place finish for the weekend, but it’s ultimately an underwhelming result for a crowdpleaser based on a literary mainstay that carries a $30 million production budget.

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As The Super Mario Bros Movie barrels toward a box office score that will make it the highest-grossing animated movie ever at the domestic box office, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 waits to pounce, Lionsgate is navigating the pre-summer calendar this weekend with two movies aimed at two different demos: the long-awaited feature take of Judy Blume’s 1970 novel, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret aimed at women, and their pickup of the Sony Stage 6 Finnish genre title Sisu, aimed at genre dudes.

Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret, the adapted from of the same name. Fremon Craig's name is not on the billboard, but the billboard—and the movie—exists because of her. For nearly 50 years, after Blume's 1970 story about a young girl's honest and relatable journey through adolescence and puberty became a beloved classic, the 84-year-old icon (and ) turned down offers to adapt Margaret. It was too personal, too important for anyone to get other than absolutely right.

posting a video on Wednesday night from an undisclosed location. Or, as Seth Meyers referred to it in a thorough roasting on Thursday night, “what I can only assume is a secret lair at the base of a volcano, or a fake doctor’s office from a low-budget porno.”The “Late Night” host joked that the video from Carlson came off as nothing more than a “proof-of-life video,” then proceeded to tear it apart.“Seriously, why are you zooming in from your sauna?” Meyers mocked.

Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret, the film adaptation of Judy Blume‘s beloved novel, is now in theaters everywhere.

Brent Lang Executive Editor To get the chance to make a movie of Judy Blume’s “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret,” producer James L. Brooks and writer and director Kelly Fremon Craig made the pilgrimage to the beloved author’s home in Key West, Fla. “I spent most of our time with Judy warning her about Hollywood and all the things it will do to you — basically, I warned her about folks like me,” says Brooks, the Oscar-winning director of “Terms of Endearment” and the co-creator of “The Simpsons” and “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” Blume chose not to heed the admonition. By the end of their sit-down, Brooks, Craig and Blume’s husband George were all hugging. The film rights were theirs. It turns out Brooks and Craig had an ace up their sleeve: Blume had loved their collaboration “The Edge of Seventeen,” a sensitively drawn look at a teenager navigating the minefield of high school while processing her dad’s death. It’s a coming-of-age tale that’s similar to “Are You There God?,” which depicts the challenges and mortifications of being on the cusp of puberty. On April 28, fans of the book will get to see how successfully Craig, Brooks and their collaborators pulled it off when the Lionsgate release opens in theaters.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.We’re so used to seeing teens played by twentys-omethings. What was it like casting actual 11-year-olds for this?Kelly Fremon Craig: The casting process was seeing every kid under the sun and really looking places that you don’t expect, trying to find kids from all over. A lot of the kids, this was their first ever thing.

Legendary author Judy Blume has written 29 books and swore the only one she would never consider selling for the screen was 1970’s Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, her timeless coming-of-age book that became a rite of passage for just about every girl, like Margaret, going from age 11 to 12, and probably their mothers as well. Blume held fast until 2018 when writer-director Kelly Fremon Craig and her mentor, Oscar-winning filmmaker James L. Brooks, came calling with just the right idea for an adaptation. The deal was sealed. The movie is here. Blume says she is probably the only author to say the movie is better than her book.