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Late Night Roundup: Obama’s Newest Order

Late Night Roundup: Obama’s Newest Order

President Obama made a special, full-length appearance on The Daily Show to promote the Iran nuclear deal — but first, he had an announcement to make to Jon Stewart: “I can’t believe that you’re leaving before me! In fact, I’m issuing a new executive order — that Jon Stewart cannot leave the show.”

Obama also discussed how he has adapted to the challenges posed by the modern media environment — and how he has viewed them as an opportunity to explain things in depth, and not just for the old nightly news sound-bites.

Obama and Stewart also talked about the issues of improving care for veterans, at a time of increased demands on the system while it has been committed to do more.

As the two of them discussed the complexities of making progress in government, Obama laid down a marker. “I can say this unequivocally: The VA is better now than when I came into office Government works better now than when I came into office. The economy is better now than when I came into office.” But, he said, it’s still not goo enough for him.

Larry Wilmore looked at this past weekend’s Ku Klux Klan rally at the South Carolina State House — in a segment called “I Can’t Believe This S**t Is Still Going On.”

Larry and the panel also discussed Bill Cosby’s newly revealed deposition from ten years ago.

Seth Meyers talked about the issues of political correctness in comedy — with Margaret Cho, a true expert at pulling off raunchy and ethnic-themed comedy in style.

Box Office: ‘Ant-Man’ Tops With $58 Million, ‘Trainwreck’ Impresses With $30.2 Million

Box Office: ‘Ant-Man’ Tops With $58 Million, ‘Trainwreck’ Impresses With $30.2 Million

By Brent Lang

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Marvel’s Ant-Man landed with a solid $58 million at the weekend box office, while Trainwreck‘s Amy Schumer put her own raunchy spin on romantic comedies to the tune of a $30.2 million debut.

It marks Marvel’s 12th consecutive first place opening, although Ant-Man isn’t at the level of other, bigger-name costumed heroes like Captain America, Thor, and Iron Man, all of whom performed better out of the gate with their solo adventures. Going into the weekend, some analysts expected Ant-Man to top $60 million, but its opening is similar to The Incredible Hulk, which earned an initial $55 million on its way to a $134 million U.S. haul.

Disney distribution chief Dave Hollis admitted that he wished the movie had done a little better, but still praised Marvel as a model of consistency.

“No one else could take what is really an obscure character and launch it in such a big way,” said Hollis. “It’s a sign that they’re doing so much right and that it’s a brand that has overwhelming momentum.”

Universal’s Trainwreck bested initial projections which had it debuting to roughly $20 million. The story of a commitment-phobic woman who falls for a sports doctor got a boost from strong reviews and a long and winding promotional tour that saw Schumer doing everything from posing provocatively with C3PO to sexting Katie Couric’s husband.

“Amy Schumer is absolutely a star,” said Nick Carpou, Universal’s domestic distribution chief. “Based on exit polling, after the humor, she’s the second biggest reason people went out to see the film.”

Trainwreck kicks off Schumer’s film career on a high note and marks the second biggest opening for director Judd Apatow, behind only Knocked Up‘s $30.7 million debut. Crowds were primarily comprised of women, as females represented 66% of ticket buyers. Universal produced the comedy for a modest $35 million, so it should make a healthy return on its investment.

That’s a fraction of the $130 million that Marvel spent on the story of a thief (Paul Rudd) who becomes a hero after donning a suit that gives him the powers of an arthropod. The superhero film will lean heavily on foreign crowds as it looks for profits. Internationally, Ant-Man opened in 37 markets, including Mexico, the U.K., France, and Russia, pulling in $56 million.

Ant-Man, which employs a more tongue-in-cheek, lighter tone than most superhero movies had hoped to pull in younger crowds. To that end, the domestic audience for Ant-Man was 28% comprised of families. Fifty eight percent of ticket buyers were male, 59% were adult, and 13% were teens.

In its second weekend, Universal and Illumination Entertainment’s Minions captured runner-up status, pulling in $50.2 million. The Despicable Me spin-off has racked up $216.7 million stateside since it debuted, while selling boatloads of merchandise.

In milestone news, Jurassic World became just the fourth film in history to top $600 million domestically. The dinosaur thriller added $11.4 million to take fifth place on the box office chart and propel its North American total to $611.1 million.

Meanwhile, Inside Out pushed past $300 million domestically, joining Toy Story 3 and Finding Nemo as the third Pixar film to reach that mark. Domestically, Inside Out racked up $11.6 million for a fourth place finish, bringing its North American gross to $306.4 million.

Among art house releases, Woody Allen’s Irrational Man pulled in $188,115 on five screens during its first weekend, for a per screen average of $37,623. Also opening, Mr. Holmes with Ian McKellen as an aging super sleuth, grossed an estimated $2.5 million on 363 screens, for a per screen average of $6,856.

Overall box office numbers are still being tallied, but it looks like ticket sales will be up more than 30% over the same period last year. It marks the sixth consecutive weekend of gains, a sign that business is booming at the multiplexes. That cuts both ways, as Disney and Marvel discovered.

“It’s great for the business, but what it means is that it’s more competitive,” said Hollis.

Photo: Cast members Michael Douglas poses at the premiere of Marvel’s “Ant-Man” in Hollywood, California June 29, 2015. (REUTERS/Kevork Djansezian)

Late Night Roundup: Jimmy Fallon’s Finger Becomes A Billboard

Late Night Roundup: Jimmy Fallon’s Finger Becomes A Billboard

Jimmy Fallon shared the online submissions to a Twitter hashtag he set up, “#MyDumbInjury,” in order to add some more fun stories to his own recent injury that nearly cost him a finger.

And then a special surprise guest showed up, director Judd Apatow — with some ideas to use Jimmy’s finger-cast as advertising space.

James Corden celebrated his 50th episode, with a sendup of anniversary and/or farewell shows.

Amy Schumer sat down with Seth Meyers, and told an interesting story about how her comedy and real life collide — when she needed help from fans on the street to zip up her dress in back.

Conan O’Brien looked at the latest hijinks on the presidential campaign trail, ranging from Hillary Clinton’s favorite ice cream (and Chris Christie’s, too) to the Donald Trump piñatas.