Zoe Saldana Becomes First Performer to Appear in Top Three Highest Grossing Films Globally

Posted on February 20, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

Zoe Saldana is officially a box office blockbuster star…

The 44-year-old Puerto Rican and Dominican American actress’ latest film Avatar: The Way of Water has replaced Titanic as the third-highest grossing film in history.

While the director of both films, James Cameron, has two films in the top three, Saldana appears in all three films, a feat not achieved by any other performer.

The sci-fi sequel Avatar: The Way of Water has generated $2.2433 billion globally, enough to overtake Titanic ($2.2428 billion) at the worldwide box office. Now, The Way of Water trails only Avatar ($2.92 billion) and Avengers: Endgame ($2.7 billion) on the all-time charts.

Saldana stars as Ney’tiri in the Avatar films and appears as her Guardians of the Galaxy character, Gamora.

Like the original “Avatar,” the follow-up’s success is attributed to its generation-spanning appeal as well as the incentive to watch the film in premium and 3D formats. On Imax screens, the movie has crossed $250 million. That’s more coinage than many films manage to earn in their entire theatrical runs.

In North America, “The Way of Water” is the ninth-highest grossing movie ever with $657 million to date. In order to fly higher on the all-time domestic charts, it’ll have to take down Titanic (at No. 8 with $659 million) and Avengers: Infinity War (at No. 7 with $678 million).

Elsewhere, “Avatar 2” recently passed Titanic to become the third-highest grossing international release ever with $1.585 billion. It’s behind only 2009’s Avatar ($2.1 billion) and Avengers: Endgame ($1.9 billion) in terms of overseas ticket sales. Standout markets include China ($242 million), France ($144 million), Germany ($135 million) and Korea ($106 million). It ranks as highest-grossing film of all-time in more than 20 countries, including France, Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Rep, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Turkey, UAE, Cambodia, Mongolia, New Zealand, Colombia and Puerto Rico.

Disney and 20th Century spent roughly $460 million to produce and promote The Way of Water, which is one of the most expensive films ever. The long-delayed sequel opened on the big screen in December and has remained in the top five on box office charts for 10 consecutive weeks. Saldana and Sam Worthington star in the otherworldly saga about family. A third installment is set to debut in December 2024 with plans for fourth and fifth entries in the coming years.

Kate Winslet to Star in HBO’s TV Series adaptation of Hernan Diaz’s Novel “Trust”

Posted on July 2, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

The television adaptation of Hernan Diaz’s novel Trust is getting a titanic star…

Kate Winslet will star in and produce the HBO limited series based on the 49-year-old Argentine writer’s 2022 novel.

HBO acquired the recent bestseller from Riverhead Books in a competitive situation.

The book centers on a wealthy financier who is dissatisfied by a novel based on his life and his wife’s portrayal, so he asks a secretary to ghostwrite his memoir and set the record straight. The secretary, however, grows uncomfortably aware that he is rewriting history—and his wife’s place in it.

Told in four different voices and genres, Trust is a narrative puzzle that subverts the notion of truth and who gets to define it.

Diaz will also executive produce the project.

Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “Encanto” Soundtrack Reaches Fifth Week at No. 1 on Billboard 200

Posted on February 13, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

It’s an enchanting five for Lin-Manuel Miranda…

Walt Disney Records’ Encanto soundtrack, containing eight original songs written by the 42-year-old Puerto Rican Tony Award-winning star and produced by Mike Elizondo, spends its fifth nonconsecutive week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, becoming the soundtrack with the most weeks atop the chart since Disney’s own Frozen ruled for 13 nonconsecutive weeks in 2014.

With their totals at No. 1 (so far), Frozen and Encanto boast the most, and second-most, weeks at No. 1, respectively, among soundtracks in the 21st century.

Encanto earned 110,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending February 10 (down 2%), according to MRC Data.

Of Encanto’s 110,000 equivalent album units earned, SEA units comprise 91,000 (down 3%, equaling 134.82 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs), album sales comprise 17,000 (up 5%) and TEA units comprise 2,000 (down 28%).

Encanto continues to be powered largely by streaming activity for its songs, including its five top 40-charting hits on the Billboard Hot 100: “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” (which spent its second week atop the February 12-dated chart), “Surface Pressure,” “The Family Madrigal,” “What Else Can I Do?” and the Academy Award-nominated “Dos Oruguitas.”

Notably, Encanto is one of only six soundtracks to spend at least five weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in the last 30 years. Before Encanto, there was Frozen (13 weeks, 2014), Titanic (16, 1998), Waiting to Exhale (five, 1996), The Lion King (10, 1994-95) and the Whitney Houston-led The Bodyguard (20, 1992-93). (Before that, the last soundtrack with at least five weeks at No. 1 was Prince’s Batman in 1989, with six weeks at No. 1.) The soundtrack — and overall album — with the most weeks at No. 1 is West Side Story, with 54 weeks atop the list in 1962-63.

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by MRC Data. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album.

Adassa & Her “Encanto” Castmates Earn Second Week at No. 1 on Billboard Hot 100 with “We Don’t Talk About Bruno”

Posted on February 7, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

It’s another week of pure enchantment for Adassa…

The 35-year-old Afro-Colombian American singer and her Encanto castmember’s “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” has registered a second week at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart.

The ensemble song – by Adassa, Carolina Gaitán, Mauro Castillo, Rhenzy Feliz, Diane Guerrero, Stephanie Beatriz and the Encanto cast (all singing as the characters that they voice in the movie) – becomes the first song from a Disney animated film to lead the Hot 100 for multiple weeks.

It one-ups the only other such song to have reigned: Peabo Bryson and Regina Belle’s Aladdin theme “A Whole New World,” which spent a week at No. 1 in 1993.

Meanwhile, “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” logs its highest weekly totals yet in streaming, sales and radio airplay, as it reaches its first airplay charts: Pop Airplay and Adult Pop Airplay.

The Hot 100 blends all-genre U.S. streaming (official audio and official video), radio airplay and sales data.

“We Don’t Talk About Bruno” drew new weekly bests of 37.6 million U.S. streams (up 8%), 3.6 million radio airplay audience impressions (up 132%) and 13,600 downloads sold (up 10%, aided by 69-cent discount pricing in the iTunes Store, and good for the Hot 100’s top Sales Gainer trophy for a second straight week) in the January 28-February 3 tracking week, according to MRC Data.

The track tops the Streaming Songs chart for a fifth week and rises 3-2 on Digital Song Sales, two weeks after it led the latter list.

As “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” crowns the Hot 100 for a second week, its parent album, the Encanto soundtrack, tops the Billboard 200 albums chart for a fourth week (and third in a row), with 113,000 equivalent album units (down 2%).

Encanto and “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” mark the first soundtrack and corresponding song to have led the Billboard 200 and Hot 100 simultaneously for multiple weeks in over 19 years, since 8 Mile and Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” ruled the respective rankings dated January 11 and 18, 2003. Before that, the last such multi-week double domination belonged to Titanic and Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On,” on the charts dated February 28 and March 7, 1998.

Kany Garcia to Launch U.S. Tour in the Fall

Posted on July 27, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Kany Garcia is bringing her show to the U.S.

The 38-year-old Puerto Rican singer and songwriter will kick off 2022 with two concerts in San Juan’s iconic Coliseo de Puerto Rico, but first, she’ll trek across the U.S. in a newly announced 2021 tour.

“This is the big surprise I had prepared,” Garcia expressed to her fans on social media. “In a bit over a month we’re touring the U.S. How exciting to meet again.”

Garcia will kick off her U.S. tour on September 8 in Atlanta’s Buckhead Theatre and wrap up on October 17 at Los Angeles’ The Belasco.

In between, Garcia will visit fans in New York, Miami, Dallas and Chicago, to name a few.

Presented by La Buena Fortuna and Sony Music Latin, the Latin Grammy-winning artist will perform some of her biggest hits like “Lo Que En Ti Veo,” “Búscame,” “Titanic” and “Nuevas Mentiras.”

Tickets will be available for pre-sale as of Thursday and to the general public on Friday. Fans can find tickets on Ticketmaster, Tickeri or Pietix, depending on the city.

Garcia is confirmed to participate in the 2021 Billboard Latin Music Week returning to Miami from September 20 to 24 with a weeklong event that unites the top Latin hitmakers, influencers and industry leaders, as well as features live performances and conversations with superstars.

Kany Garcia Releases Music Video for “Titanic,” Her Heartwarming Duet with Camilo

Posted on August 27, 2020 by Tom Castaneda

It’s a Titanic moment for Kany Garcia…

The 37-year-old Puerto Rican singer/songwriter has the official music video for “Titanic,” her solemn duet with Camilo.

Garcia originally released the track, included on her album Mesa Para Dos, three months ago.

The beautifully shot video is set in an empty swimming pool filled with only García and Camilo’s nostalgic lyrics and memories of a relationship that, with time, turned sour as the pair grew apart.

The video was shot in Miami and directed by the Evaluna Montaner, who is a recording artist in her own right.

Montaner previously directed a video featuring her husband Camilo, their honeymoon-inspired clip “Favorito” released in March.

“Titanic,” a timeless ballad with subtle and elegant musical arrangements that allow García and Camilo’s tender vocals to carry the song, wraps up the 10-track set produced by Julio Reyes Copello and features collaborations with Carlos Vives, Reik and Mon Laferte, among others.

Rebecca Delgado to Launch “The Alarmist” Podcast on Earios

Posted on July 1, 2019 by Tom Castaneda

Rebecca Delgadois about to ring the Alarm(ist)…

The Puerto Rican actress/writer will be part of the inaugural slate for female-focused podcast network Earios.

Delgado’s podcast is entitled The Alarmist. The Good Placeactress sits down with a guest to analyze and scrutinize history’s greatest disasters, from the sinking of the Titanic to the break-up of The Beatles, to find out what went wrong and who is to blame.

Delgado’s podcast joins a roster that includes projects by Love creator Lesley Arfin, Margaret Choand Glow’sKimmy Gatewood

Earios was set up by former UTAand WME comedy agent Priyanka Mattoo, who also ran Electric Dynamitewith Jack Black, Maria Blasucciand Amanda Lund.

Last year, the company successfully raised money through a Kickstartercampaign and secured enough to launch 12 shows this year. It has also partnered with podcast company Acastto launch the slate, which will launch three shows at the start of July and will run new shows every couple of weeks.

It’s designed to produce female-fronted podcasts after Lund and Blasucci, who previously hosted their own independent shows, failed to find podcast companies run by women even though over 30% of shows are hosted or co-hosted by women and women make up half of podcast listeners.

González Iñárritu Has Cast Tom Hardy Opposite Leo DiCaprio in “The Revenant”

Posted on June 30, 2014 by Tom Castaneda

Alejandro González Iñárritu has found a co-star for Leonardo DiCaprio in his upcoming film The Revenant.

The 50-year-old Mexican filmmaker has cast English actor Tom Hardy to star opposite the Titanic star in the gritty thriller, which González Iñárritu adapted from Michael Punke’s novel The Revenant: A Novel of Revenge.

The González Iñárritu-directed film, centers on a 19th century fur trapper who gets mauled by a grizzly bear, and then is left for dead by cohorts who rob him. When he survives, he is not a happy camper and sets out on a treacherous journey to exact revenge on those who betrayed him.

Oscar-winning Gravity cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki is also onboard for the New Regency production.

Filming is set to begin on September 22, with a Fall 2015 release scheduled.

Domingo Recording Titanic Tune with Celine Dion

Posted on January 19, 2012 by Tom Castaneda

Plácido Domingo is lending his gigantic voice to a titanic insta-classic song…

The 70-year-old Spanish tenor—who was recently named a recipient of Israel’s prestigious Wolf Prize—will duet with Celine Dion on the 43-year-old Canadian songstress’ iconic No. 1 song “My Heart Will Go On.”

The Domingo-Dion duet on the theme song from Titanic—which will be re-released in 3D this spring—is part of two new soundtracks being issued to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the ship’s sinking: Titanic Anniversary Edition and Titanic Collector’s Anniversary Edition.

The first version includes a 12-page booklet and vintage stickers, the remastered soundtrack, previously unpublished recorded music by orchestra I Salonisti and the Dion/Domingo duet.

The Collector’s Edition comprises of the booklet and stickers, along with four CDs: the remastered soundtrack, “Back To Titanic” remastered, I Salonisti’s music, the Dion/Domingo duet and popular music from the “Titanic” period.

Since its release in 1997, the original soundtrack has sold more than 26 million copies worldwide. Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On,” meanwhile, has moved more than six million copies and has become her signature song.

Sony Classical will release the two new editions of the original soundtrack to Titanic on March 26. Meanwhile, Titanic 3D is set to open in theaters nationwide on April 4.

Hispanically Yours

Celebrating the Latino Influence

Tag Archives: Titanic