Brett-Butler

In Crocodile Dundee, the line is "That's not a knife. THAT'S a knife!" It's probably mis-remembered as "You call that a knife? This is a knife!" due to the Simpsons spoof a few years later.

He's played an animated superhero an a supporting role before. He played Metro Man in "Megamind".

Numan’s Buffet Boy advert. Those danish arse-cheeks are the stuff of nightmares.

Four films clearing £2 million is some going, including one I hadn't expected to crack that on week one. It definitely feels like cinema is on course for it's best year in some time. Also nice to see quite a few family films in there, seems like there'd been a dearth of them for a while.

This will probably be one of those situations where the free market will end up dictating the situation. Already it's had an effect with two major sponsors pulling out, which will already hit the Wireless organisers in their pocket (particularly given how hard it is to put on a concert these days, the economics of putting on one has become near improbable due to increasing costs and regulations). There will be the down-bill effect as well - I imagine there will be quite a few artists that will be hesitant to play on the bill with him, even if it's on a different day, which means that finding other performers will be harder, and those that do will be able to command a higher fee as a result. The question will be whether this will lead to increased ticket sales or not - no publicity is good publicity in most cases, and Wireless has just been handed wall-to-wall coverage in the press for the past week, for better or worse. Whether the additional ticket sales gained from the publicity will offset those who may have considered going remains to be seen - it will be interesting to see how quickly it sells out, if it does at all. As for Mister West himself - whilst I am willing to forgive those who have sinned, even if the sins are as monumental in relation to his gross anti-Semitic outbursts, in a public facing position like entertainers he'll need to do a lot more to convince that his confessions are genuine, and take public actions that match his professed sorrow. I also don't agree with baring him from entering the UK (which has now been confirmed); by doing so you just run the risk of making him a martyr.

Add me again.

That gives it a screen average of £92, which is tiny and well below the screen averages of films in the top 10, so if it is expanding I'd be very surprised.

I take it One Last Deal with DANNY DYER didn’t do much then? What a shame…

The Bride (no relation) is on course to be the first big-budget flop of 2026 then, it also majorly underperformed in the USA (just over $7 million), and barely outgrossed a "goes down well with tea and a biscuit" cosy British film "Mother's Pride", which I barely saw any publicity for compared to the wall-to-wall coverage for "The Bride". Pixar will definitely be happy with the performance of "Hoppers" then, although still lower than one may come to expect for Pixar, although I imagine that like Zootopia 2 before it, it will have a long tail (if you pardon the pun).

Given that there's been a dearth of new, decent budgeted Hollywood spoof films for over a decade, I'm guessed that people have been so starved for one for so long that they'll take what they can get. They're definitely starting to have a moment again, with last year's Naked Gun reboot doing decent numbers, and Fackham Hall performing better than I expected. I wasn't a fan of the first two Scary Movie films (found them too crass), but enjoyed the more Naked Gun-esque 3 and 4 (never saw 5), so I don't expect to be as keen on this one, given it brings back the original writing cast. Not too sold on the trailer, but if it leads to Hollywood dipping its toes in the spoof genre again in a big way, then Godspeed. Also, Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer, despite being credited as writers, did not contribute anything to the script of Scary Movie. They were credited due to the quirks of the WGA system. Then they used that as leverage to destroy spoof films for everyone.

I’d thought that Labour would have no chance until Keir Starmer went to the constituency this week to campaign. If he’d thought that Labour were toast here he would’ve stayed a million miles away from it, so he must have some good data for his party on early postal voting. Of course if they lose now then he’s even more tainted. I’m still thinking a slight Reform win, but I think Labour will be second, rather than the Greens.

For such a wide release, £7 million does seem a bit underwhelming. What was its screen average like compared to other films released this week, and some of the other big tentpole films recently?

I’m pretty sure that Conkers is Tom Daley. The reference to 3 gold stars seem to refer to his Olympic wins, and my wife’s pointing out that there’s a few very cryptic references to knitting hidden throughout.

The Candidates for the Gorton and Denton by-election have been announced - Nick Buckley (Advance UK) Charlotte Cadden (Conservative Party) Dan Clarke (Libertarian Party) Matt Goodwin (Reform UK) Sebastian Moore (Social Democratic Party) Joseph O'Meachair (Rejoin EU Party) Jackie Pearcey (Liberal Democrats) Hannah Spencer (Green Party) Angeliki Stogia (Labour Party) Sir Oink a Lot (The Official Monster Raving Loony Party) Hugo Wils (Communist League) Literally something for everyone there, with commies, social democrats, libertarians and continuity FBPE thrown in to the mix. My predictions - Labour won't win this. They already dropped points when Andy Burnham wasn't selected, and now with the Mandelson stuff thrown in I can't see them taking it. I feel the Greens have been oversold by media wanting a straight Green/Reform fight, they'll poll better than 2024 but nowhere near winning. At the moment, my money's on a tight Reform win.

Forgot I won the last time! I'll take Sweden this time.

He may have said it over 15 years ago, but after the revelations of the past few days, this Frankie Boyle quote remains prescient: “Who made Peter Mandelson a Lord? The Sith?”

7 on The Cure, 18 overall.

Absolutely chuffed to see "Boys Don't Cry" as high up as it is. Hard to believe it's never been a top 20 hit, I hope it hangs in there and gives them a new peak. This post is brought to you by the bloke who appeared on Mastermind with "The Cure" as his specialist subject.

The first music topic of the series came up and it was a picture round as well, so there may not be sound based duels as I'd thought.

The Cure have released a version of “Boys Don’t Cry” this week that is being streamed for the first time, the 86” Mix which was a re-recorded version to promote their “Standing on a Beach” compilation album from that year. It’s slightly remixed and had new vocals from Robert Smith. It’ll be interesting to see if it gets decent streaming numbers alongside the original. This post was brought to you by “the bloke who went on Mastermind with The Cure as his specialist subject”.

As much as I’m glad that “Saipan” made the top 10 (I worked as an extra with someone who played a journalist in that film), it seems like a real cheat that a film can be open for nearly month and not have its figures recorded until it opens nationwide. Also, clucking bell, The Housemaid turning into a phenomenon wasn’t on my UK box Office bingo card a few weeks ago.

I don’t think Burnham has to resign in order to stand as an MP, only if he were to win the by-election.

Looks like Labour’s NEC would rather see a Reform UK MP in Gorton than the risk of Andy Burnham challenging Starmer’s leadership from within parliament. If they thought that this would stop Labour Party psychodrama, it’s a ruddy funny way of doing so.

If he lives on the border he could probably get a down South phone number arranged in some way. If I decide again to apply for the Irish Traitors and there’s the same issue I may try seeing if there’s a workaround.

Oh goodness, hope this doesn't turn into a "minor political celebrity" election - George Galloway contested the predecessor seat of Gorton in 2017 (initially at a by-election, which become the General Election when it was called early), winning 8% of the vote. If he runs for the Workers Party, then there's no hope of them standing aside to give the Greens a boost.