Elvis
‘Elvis’ Is the Third-Highest-Grossing Music Biopic Since the 1970s: Here’s the Top 25
After two months in theaters, Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis has grossed nearly $145 million in the U.S. and Canada, according to boxofficemojo.com. The film, starring Austin Butler as the King, Elvis Presley, is the third-highest-grossing music biopic in terms of domestic box-office (which the site defines as the U.S. and Canada) since the mid-1970s. Elvis has grossed nearly $270 million worldwide. In terms of global box-office, it’s No. 2, just behind Bohemian Rhapsody, the Oscar-winning 2018 biopic of Queen‘s Freddie Mercury. Here are the 25 top-grossing biopics of musicians in terms of domestic box-office. The films cover a wide range of genres. Pop/rock artists are the focus of eight the 25 films, followed by R&B (four); rap and traditional pop (three each); country, Latin and classic...
Shonka Dukureh, Who Portrayed Big Mama Thornton in Elvis, Found Dead at 44
Shonka Dukureh, who portrayed Big Mama Thornton in Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis, was found dead in her Nashville apartment on Thursday, July 21st. She was 44 years old. According to the Metro Nashville Police Department (via Tennessean), Dukureh was found unresponsive by one of her children early Thursday morning who went to a neighbor’s apartment for help. Police do not suspect foul play and an autopsy is underway to determine the exact cause of death. Dukureh hailed from Charlotte, but resided in Nashville after graduating from Fisk University with a bachelor’s degree in theater. She also held a master’s degree in education from Trevecca Nazarene University. Advertisement Related Video Prior to landing the role in Elvis, Dukureh performed gospel and blues music locally and worked as an elementar...
‘Elvis’ Is Already One of the Top 10 Grossing Music Biopics Since the Mid-1970s: Here’s the Top 25
After just one week in theaters, Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis has grossed more than $40 million in the U.S. and Canada, according to boxofficemojo.com. The film, starring Austin Butler as the King, Elvis Presley, is already one of the 10 highest-grossing biopics of musicians since the 1970s. How high will it climb on the list of top-grossing music biopics? It’s off to a fast start, but it’s not even one-fifth of the way to matching the “domestic” (meaning U.S. and Canada) grosses of the leader. (Can you guess what that is? All will be revealed.) The 25 biopics of musicians on this list cover a wide range of genres. Pop/rock artists are the focus of eight the 25 films, followed by R&B (four); rap and classical (three each); country, Latin and traditional pop (two each); and contemporary Christi...
How Accurate is Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis? Here’s a Fact Check
Baz Luhrmann has made a career out of bending time and reality to tell stories with a distinctive melodramatic flair. Moulin Rouge! was full of Parisians circa 1900 singing MTV-era pop songs. William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet featured 20th century American characters speaking in the original play’s 16th century dialogue. Elvis Presley is one of the most mythologized figures in the American imagination, looming over pop culture via Vegas impersonators and conspiracy theories about his death as much as his music. So one might expect Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis to be about the legend, not the man. But Luhrmann, who began work on the film eight years ago, researched Presley’s life extensively, co-writing the screenplay with longtime collaborator Craig Pearce, as well as Sam Bromell and Jeremy Done...
Final ‘Elvis’ Trailer Gives New Look at Presley’s Musicality & Rebelliousness: Watch
Baz Luhrmann’s highly-anticipated feature film Elvis is just two days away from releasing, but viewers were just treated to one last sneak peek at the imaginative biopic before the movie arrives in theaters on Friday (June 24). In a revealing final trailer released Wednesday (June 22) — starring Austin Butler as Presley and Tom Hanks as his manager Tom Parker — both the legendary rock star’s gift for music and rebellious nature are put on full display. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Brand new clips of Butler portraying The King at different stages of his life are featured in the new two-minute teaser, stitched together with footage already unveiled in the film’s previous two trailers. In one, a child Elvis — who is well known for ...
Elvis: Baz Luhrmann’s Gloriously Dizzying Film Takes Care of Presley’s Business
Baz Luhrmann’s unparalleled, and some would say over-the-top production style works very well to present the arc of Elvis Presley‘s career. The story is told through the eyes of Presley’s mercurial manager, Col. Tom Parker, astutely played by Tom Hanks. The Oscar-winning actor draws us in with his conspiratorial voiceovers, and then we see Presley’s puppet-like reaction. The funhouse mirror scene when Parker woos Elvis, whether apocryphal, is a perfect metaphor for the career Parker shapes for Presley. Parker leveraged his astute judgment of human nature to pluck Presley from obscurity as a truck driver and move him quickly from a traveling circus-like roadshow to the pinnacle of mainstream popularity. Parker’s voiceovers consistently speak about his skill at conjuring up more snow ...
Elvis Review: Baz Luhrmann’s First Biopic Is Not As Absurd and Ahistorical As You Might Expect
The Pitch: Baz Luhrmann, the Australian maximalist behind such audaciously stylized films as Moulin Rouge! and The Great Gatsby, has taken on his first biopic, and it’s a monster. Although a few attempts have been made at dramatizing the life story of Elvis Presley, most notably Kurt Russell in John Carpenter’s 1979 film also titled Elvis, Luhrmann’s movie is by far the biggest and boldest yet, with an $85 million budget dwarfing every other Presley biopic combined. Austin Butler, a 30-year-old actor who made his name with several teen and tween-friendly TV roles on the Disney Channel and The CW, is the unlikely star of this massive biography of the King of Rock’n’Roll. An Anaheim native whose most prestigious previous project was a small role as a member of the Manson Family in Once Upon ...
Here’s Why Baz Luhrmann Didn’t Cast Harry Styles in ‘Elvis’
Harry Styles is so hot right now. His third studio album Harry’s House is No. 1 on the Billboard 200, and its lead single “As It Was” is the best-seller on both sides of the Atlantic, and around the globe. So Styles, with his effortless style, great hair, adoring fanbase and growing list of movie credits would have been a natural to play Elvis Presley in Baz Luhrmann’s new biopic, Elvis? Well, no. The Australian director reckons audiences would struggle to see past the Brit. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news “Harry is a really talented actor,” Luhrmann tells Fitzy & Wippa, the breakfast radio team at Sydney’s Nova. “I would work on something with him…” but “the real issue with Harry is, he’s Harry Styles. He’s already an icon.” There’s n...
