Links: Sadie Sink, Kurt Russell, Jean Smart, and "Giant"

• Advocate If you're in LA this weekend note that the Fine Arts Theatre in Beverly Hills is showing a restoration of Giant (1956) -- excellent epic with three ridiculously iconic stars (Rock Hudson, Liz Taylor, and James Dean) and meant to be seen on the big screen
• Antidote Director Bruce LaBruce interviews Betty Blue herself Béatrice Dalle. Great photoshoot
• PrimeTimer all of Jean Smart's Emmy nods, ranked: Hacks, Fargo, Frasier, Watchmen, etc

More after the jump including Kurt Russell's Elvis movie, Sadie Sink on Broadway, and, sadly, more actor deaths to report...

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Weekend Box Office: The popularity of 'Elvis' shouldn't have been a surprise

Two mavericks, one real (Rock star Elvis Presley) and one fictional (Pilot Pete "Maverick" Mitchell), battled it out for the #1 position at the box office and until the actuals come in its a draw. Let's discuss...

1. ELVIS $30.5 -NEW. 3,948 screens
It's always worth celebrating when a non-franchise film opens big. Good on Baz for pulling it off again. Box office pundits seem shocked at how well it did but why? Elvis Presley is the best selling solo act of all time and when it comes to the best-selling musicians, movies about them have built in audiences. Bohemian Rhapsody was a behemoth at the box office. Rocketman was a hit. If they ever make a crowd pleasing bio about Fleetwood Mac or Mariah Carey or The Beatles, those will probably be huge, too. Who knows... maybe even the upcoming Whitney Houston and Madonna biopics will be blockbusters.

1. TOP GUN MAVERICK $30.5 - 5th weekend. 3,906 screens
Tom Cruise's legacy sequel is the $1 film of the year (domestically) with  $521.7 in the US alone...

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SXSW: Life as Dolly Parton in ‘Seriously Red’

By Abe Friedtanzer

Just as Patton Oswalt was a draw for another SXSW film, I Love My Dad, actress Rose Byrne getting top billing in a movie about a Dolly Parton impersonator was also an appeal. Seeing a photo of Byrne as Elvis only made it more intriguing. But this is a classic example of a bait-and-switch, albeit a productive and satisfying one, since Byrne has almost no lines and barely even appears in the film. Instead, this is a story of an Australian woman yearning to find herself who does so through her undying love for the popular country star… 

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Yes No Maybe So: Baz Luhrmann's 'ELVIS'

by Nathaniel R

Baz Luhrmann's career began explosively with two of the most endearing, unusual, and entertaining films of the 1990s (Strictly Ballroom and Romeo + Juliet). His promise as a Great Showman was realized with his masterpiece Moulin Rouge! (2001) which was only his third feature. Unfortunately in the 21 years since that very modern movie musical revitalized its genre, he mostly vanished from movie screens. He's made only two features since, the disjointed epic Australia (2008) and a box office hit adaptation of The Great Gatsby (2013). Nearly a full decade later we finally have a sixth feature. His latest, which was untitled long enough that its official title Elvis is hysterically anti-climactic, is a biopic of the rock n roll superstar. The movie hits theaters on June 24th, so let's break the trailer down with our Yes No Maybe So™ system...

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Showbiz History: Stewart enlists, Blade returns, and Streisand's legend begins

7 random things that happened on this day, March 22nd, in showbiz history

1941 James Stewart joins the Air Corps, three weeks after winning the Oscar. He was the first American movie star to join the military for  World War II

1957 The Elvis Presley single "All Shook Up" is released, soon hitting the top of the charts and becoming one of his signature songs...

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