Latest news with #highestgrossing
The National
18-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The National
Timeframe: From 2016 to 2023, Travis Scott's Abu Dhabi legacy ahead of his return
With more than $210 million in revenue across 78 shows, Travis Scott's Circus Maximus World Tour – set to hit Abu Dhabi on November 15 – is officially the highest-grossing solo rap tour of all time. But back in 2016, when the rapper first touched down in the UAE capital, he was a rising star. While he had a cult following even then, Scott was far from the global force he is today. Part of the line-up at the free Beats on the Beach concert series on the Corniche, on the sidelines of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Scott was a headliner on the third night, performing on the same stage as Lebanese powerhouse Nancy Ajram. Scott's performance came less than two months after the release of his second studio album, Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight, which debuted at No 1 on the US Billboard 200 chart. 'Scott took to the Corniche stage like a rocket and in the space of a mere 15 minutes had the crowd sweating and shouting along to his Mad Hatter-esque raps and shuddering dystopian beats,' The National wrote of the 2016 show. For some fans, however, the intensity proved too much. The then-24-year-old paused his performance midway to allow an exhausted audience member to be escorted from the front. After ensuring the fan was OK, he warned the crowd that he wasn't finished: 'This is a Travis Scott show. If you can't handle that, you better leave because we all came here to party, right?' he said. Hours after his show, too, Scott wasn't done, turning up at Mad nightclub at Yas Island for another performance 'bounding around and whipping the late-night onlookers into a frenzy'. Scott was due to return to Abu Dhabi three years later, as one of the headline acts at the 2019 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix after-race concert series, but suddenly pulled out three days before the show due to 'unforeseen circumstances', leaving many fans disappointed. 'While we are not contractually able to discuss the reason why, Travis couldn't do it because something happened that was totally out of his control,' John Lickrish, chief executive of organiser Flash Entertainment, told The National. 'Now we as a team are disappointed that this can happen so close to the show, but what I can say is that it was for extremely legitimate reasons and I feel empathy for him.' Rappers Future and Gucci Mane stepped in for Scott on the night. Scott returned to Abu Dhabi in 2023 for a blowout set, as the headliner of the inaugural Wireless Festival Middle East at Etihad Park, where he will also perform in November. The UK-import festival featured British rapper MIA, American rapper Lil Uzi Vert, Egyptian star Wegz and Iraqi rapper Ali Gatie performing across multiple stages. But Scott was the main draw of the event and he delivered an explosive show, blending surreal stage settings with his raucous onstage temperament. Scott was at the top of his game, The National reported, arriving on stage amid a cacophony of bass, strobes and smoke, opening with Hold That Heat and Highest in the Room, as he thundered around the stage as loyal fans mirrored him below. There were plenty of flames, smoke and exhilarating visuals with every song such as the genre-bending Stargazing, from 2018's Astroworld, performed in front of a kaleidoscopic wall of digital art.
Irish Times
13-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Scarlett Johansson has set a box office record. But could the movie star be out of a job?
Somewhere out there, a Statler or a Waldorf is arguing that Scarlett Johansson is no Clark Gable. She's not even a Myrna Loy. They don't make them like that any more. Blah-blah. We will get to the relevance of those particular veterans in a moment, but, whatever one's feelings about Johansson, it cannot be denied that she has claimed one high-profile record all for herself. This week it emerged that she is now the highest-grossing lead actor of all time. This is not to say she is the best-paid actor. (Last year that was Duane 'the Rock' Johnson.) But movies starring Johansson have made more than movies starring anybody else. The co-lead of the current smash Jurassic World: Rebirth passes out Samuel L Jackson with her lifetime total of $14.9 billion, or about €12.7 billion. Robert Downey jnr , Zoë Saldaña and Chris Pratt complete the top five. [ Jurassic World: Rebirth review – the plot is mid-level dumb but 'good film' belongs among its keywords Opens in new window ] Words can scarcely express what a flawed metric this is for establishing the biggest – not to mention the greatest – movie star of all time. Inflation strips the figures of some relevancy, but, when it comes to the all-time box-office charts, the unadjusted number one remains something worth fighting over. Avatar, the current champ, is, astonishingly, still number two when you tweak for inflation. READ MORE No, the real issue is to do with the withering potency of the movie star. Almost none of the films that got Johansson to the top was sold on her name. This is no slight on an eminently likable and charismatic actor. The same can be said of the four who complete that top five. Scar-Jo gets there thanks to her role as Black Widow in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and, now, as gun-toting team leader in that Jurassic World movie. The stand-alone Black Widow film, released as we were coming out of Covid, is the lowest-grossing of her MCU flicks. Jackson and Downey jnr are also Marvel alumni. Saldaña registers for the MCU and the two Avatar films. Pratt scores for the MCU and the previous three Jurassic World films. So registering on this list is all about getting yourself signed on for the biggest franchises of the day. It has been said before; it will be said again. The intellectual property (as we grandly label familiar source material) is now the real star of the movie. What the hell is the name of the guy in that new Superman flick ? Dirk Cornswoggle? Doug Clangpiglet? Never mind. It's Superman, baby. At the risk of encouraging Statler and Waldorf, let us note that it was very much not this way in the old days. In 2000, TLA Releasing set out to tabulate the stars who had sold the most tickets at the box office through the decades. This is obviously a better model than highest grosser, as inflation has no bearing. [ Scarlett Johansson: 'I had a very formidable grandmother who I was incredibly close with' Opens in new window ] The results bring us back to a whole different universe. If you wished to be cynical you could still see this as a chart of brands, but the brand – honed and primped by the studio system – is the actor, not what then was not called a franchise. Gable, star of the annihilating Gone with the Wind, is at number one with 1.2 billion tickets sold. John Wayne is there at number two, with 1.1 billion. Everyone in that top 10 had an easily summarised type – avuncular Bing Crosby, homely Jimmy Stewart, suave Cary Grant and so on – and each knew not to swerve too far from that template. The only one who points towards our current compromised future is Harrison Ford, at number nine. True, he had already clocked up a bunch of Star Wars and Indiana Jones flicks, but, even in those, he felt like a craggy visitor from the golden age. The bad news for sentimental old fogeys is that no woman makes the top 10. It is, indeed, Myrna Loy who scrapes in first, at number 11, a few places ahead of Bette Davis and Judy Garland. All recognisable brands. Each the most saleable aspect of the films in which they starred. For all that sighing towards a supposedly golden past, one would have trouble arguing that Johansson is an unworthy candidate for stellar elevation. If not her then who else? True, she can't open a film like Bette Davis once did. But nobody can do that any more. Everything else about Johansson radiates vintage glamour. When she graduated from juvenile roles to adult lead, with Lost in Translation, in 2003, it was immediately apparent that we had a movie star on our hands. The worry is that the job of movie star is now as redundant as that of lamplighter, crossing sweeper or court jester. That Superman guy's name will come to me in a minute.
Yahoo
12-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Box Office Queen Becomes the Highest-Grossing Lead Actor of All Time
Box Office Queen Becomes the Highest-Grossing Lead Actor of All Time originally appeared on Parade. Scarlett Johansson just made box office history. The Oscar-nominated actress, 40, has officially become the highest-grossing lead actor of all time, surpassing her fellow Marvel Cinematic Universe alums Samuel L. Jackson and Robert Downey Jr., according to verified data from The Numbers. The milestone comes on the heels of a massive opening weekend for Jurassic World Rebirth, which debuted July 3 and earned $147.3 million domestically and $318.3 million globally through Sunday. That colossal opening pushed Johansson's total global box office haul for leading and ensemble-lead roles to an astonishing $14.61 billion — edging Jackson's $14.60 billion and Downey Jr.'s $14.3 billion. What's more: Johansson got there with just 36 films playing lead roles, compared to Jackson's 71 and Downey's 45. Her average worldwide gross stands at $405.9 million per film, significantly outpacing both actors. Many of Johansson's biggest hits have come from her decade-long portrayal of Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow in the MCU, including Avengers: Endgame ($2.7B), Infinity War ($2B), The Avengers ($1.5B), and Age of Ultron ($1.4B). Outside of Marvel, Johansson headlined major earners like The Jungle Book ($951M), Sing ($631M), and Lucy ($457M). Her latest win comes from a new franchise. In Jurassic World Rebirth, Johansson stars as Zora Bennett, a hardened mercenary brought into the action by a pharmaceutical executive (Rupert Friend) to team up with a paleontologist (Jonathan Bailey) on a high-stakes mission involving dinosaur DNA. Clearly, Johansson is no longer just Marvel's most elite assassin. She's Hollywood's most bankable star. Period. Jurassic World Rebirth is now playing in theaters nationwide. Box Office Queen Becomes the Highest-Grossing Lead Actor of All Time first appeared on Parade on Jul 7, 2025 This story was originally reported by Parade on Jul 7, 2025, where it first appeared.
CTV News
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- CTV News
78th Annual Tony Awards recap
2024-2025 was Broadway's highest grossing season ever. CTV's Andria Case reports on the 78th annual Tony Awards.
