Byrne opened his SNL musical guest spot — his first since 1989 — with the American Utopia rendition of Talking Heads’ classic “Once in a Lifetime,” with the singer and his barefoot troupe delivered a joyous take on the Remain in Light single.
For his second performance, Byrne and company once again drew from their now-completed-but-returning Broadway musical with “Toe Jam,” a Byrne-penned track that was originally released in 2008 via Fatboy Slim’s Brighton Port Authority project.
“Once in a Lifetime” wasn’t the only Talking Heads classic to get the SNL treatment: In the “Airport Sushi” sketch, Byrne — playing “Baggage Handler Who Tosses Everyone’s Suitcase Into Long Island Sound” — reunited with host Mulaney for a Laguardi Airport-inspired rendition of “Road to Nowhere,” here dubbed “Plane to Nowhere”:
Byrne’s American Utopia Broadway residency wrapped February 16th, but the show will return for 17 more weeks of performances at New York’s Hudson Theatre in September. Spike Lee will also helm a film version of the acclaimed stage show.
Universal and Blumhouse’s “The Invisible Man” materialized at the top of box office charts after debuting to $29 million in North America over the weekend.
“The Invisible Man” is Universal’s latest attempt to remake its classic monster properties, an effort that flailed spectacularly with 2017’s “The Mummy” starring Tom Cruise. After that movie was commercially panned and became a box-office bust, the studio scrapped its plans to create an interconnected “Dark Universe.” Instead, Universal took the concept in a different direction and focused on creating standalone stories unique to each otherworldly creature. That approach seems to have paid off since “The Invisible Man” has been praised by critics and audiences. The Elisabeth Moss-led thriller cost $7 million to make, not including marketing fees, meaning it’s already a financial hit for the studio.
“The Invisible Man” also launched overseas, earning $20.2 million from 47 international territories. That brings its global opening weekend haul to an impressive $49.2 million.
Leigh Whannell wrote and directed “The Invisible Man,” a modern take on the novel by H.G. Wells. Moss has been widely heralded for her performance as Cecilia Kass, a woman being hunted by her violently abusive ex-boyfriend (Oliver Jackson-Cohen). When he dies by suicide, she has to prove her sanity and that she’s being stalked by someone that nobody can see.
“Leigh Whannell had an incredibly great vision. It allowed us to broaden the audience and make for a really engaging story,” said Jim Orr, Universal’s president of domestic distribution. “Our partners as Blumhouse don’t cut corners when it comes to quality. They consistently deliver hit after hit.”
Elsewhere, Paramount’s “Sonic the Hedgehog” slid to the No. 2 spot after two consecutive weeks as box office champ. The family friendly film added $16 million in its third weekend in theaters, boosting its domestic tally to a solid $128 million. “Sonic” has been a global box office success, bringing in $137.2 million abroad for a worldwide total of $265 million.
Heading into the weekend, “Sonic the Hedgehog” was battling with Disney and 20th Century’s “The Call of the Wild” for second place, though the former pulled ahead. “The Call of the Wild,” starring Harrison Ford, placed third with $13.2 million in its second frame. After two weeks in theaters, the film has made $45.9 million in North America and $79.3 million globally. However, it carries a massive $125 million price tag and stands to lose money for the studio.
Funimation’s anime movie “My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising” launched at No. 4, collecting $6.3 million from 1,260 venues over the weekend. The Japanese action adventure has made $9.6 million since debuting on Wednesday.
Sony’s “Bad Boys for Life” rounded out the top five, generating $4.3 million in its seventh weekend of release. The Will Smith and Martin Lawrence-led film has pocketed $197 million in the U.S. and $406 million globally to date.
At the specialty box office, Searchlight’s “Wendy,” a re-imagining of “Peter Pan,” opened in four theaters. The movie — directed by Benh Zeitlin (“Beasts of the Southern Wild”) — brought in $30,000 for a disappointing average of $7,500 per theater.
Meanwhile, Focus Features expanded “Emma” to 97 theaters, where it made $1.17 million. The adaptation of Jane Austen’s novel, which has earned $1.47 million so far, will broaden its theatrical footprint nationwide next weekend.
Neon’s “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” also widened its theater count this weekend, pulling in $730,000 from 268 venues and bringing its stateside haul to $2.4 million.
Another Neon release, the Oscar-winning “Parasite,” added $1.5 million this weekend, boosting its domestic total to $51.5 million, a huge result for a non-English language film.
5th Update Sunday AM: Moviegoers didn’t have a problem finding Blumhouse’s The Invisible Manon Saturday with the Leigh Whannell movie racking up $11.1M, a 12% surge over Friday’s $9.9M for a weekend that Universal is calling at $29M (some rival estimates have it in the low $28M range). Even more commendable: if you back out those $1.65M previews from Friday’s number (which is $8.25M), business for Invisible Man actually shot up +35% on Saturday.
No, Invisible Man did not play like a front-loaded horror movie, rather a thriller (i.e. Universal/Amblin’s Girl on the Train saw a Friday-to-Saturday uptick of +3% on its way to a $24.5M opening weekend). The Saturday bounce for Invisible Man isn’t that far from Split‘s +13% and is in the same teen percentile orbit as Get Out (+17%). Another big indicator that buzz caught on for Invisible Man is in the PostTrak stat that 79% of ticket buyers bought their tickets on Saturday vs. 7% in the past week. Fifty-eight percent of Invisible Man‘s moviegoers bought tickets at the theater versus 38% online. Of those who watched Invisible Man, 52% said they’ll definitely recommend the movie to their friends, while 41% said they’ll probably recommend it. Strong exits. Overall, Invisible Man wound up being slightly more male at 53% to 47% women. PostTrak shows an uptick in the under female demo to 23% (from 18%), females over 25 averaging out to 26%, guys over 25 still leading with 31% and more males under 25 (going from 17% on Friday night to 20% yesterday). The male leaning Invisible Man was on par with the guy pull of Glass, A Quiet Place and 10 Cloverfield Lane. Split was more female with a draw of 44% (next to Invisible Man‘s 47%).
Those going out in packs (2-4 friends) to see Invisible Man included males under 25 (30%) and females under 25 (23%). Those males and females under 25 taking boyfriends/girlfriends to the R-rated thriller were around 25%-26%.
Invisible Man reps the second best debut for Elisabeth Moss (who remarkably carries this movie all on her own) at the domestic box office behind last year’s Us from Jordan Peele, Uni and Blumhouse ($71.1M), which still holds the record for the best opening by an original horror movie. Global for Invisible Man is at $49.2M, making it the No. 1 movie around the globe this weekend with $20.2M from 39 offshore territories including Mexico, the U.K./Ireland, Germany and Australia, with the international rollout continuing through the spring. Final endgame domestic for Invisible Man is now expected to be around $75M (which is where Girl of the Train was), but we’ll see about that as that movie was mostly fueled by female fans of the book. Invisible Man owns the genre space until Paramount’s A Quiet Place Part II arrives on March 20, with little adult threat next weekend from Disney/Pixar’s Onward (expected to open in the mid $40Ms) and Warner Bros. Ben Affleck drama The Way Back (in the mid-to-high mid digits).
“Pairing Blumhouse, the unequivocal master of this horror thriller genre, with the incredible vision of Leigh Whannell led to the great success of our debut of The Invisible Man this weekend. The casting of the extraordinarily talented Elisabeth Moss elevates this film, with audiences and critics responding to her performance with great enthusiasm. This is a great start for the new direction in Universal’s Classic Monster legacy,” beamed Universal domestic distribution boss Jim Orr this morning to Deadline.
Imax and PLF accounted for a third of Invisible Man‘s domestic business. While Uni had Invisible Man booked on PLF screens, some exhibitors opted to play My Hero Academia: Hero Rising and Call of the Wild, and thus, didn’t reap the upside of the overperformance of the Moss movie on certain showtimes.
Elsewhere, the weekend’s other wide entry, Sony Pictures TV/Funimation’s My Hero Academia: Hero Risingin early AM estimates clocked an estimated $2.6M Saturday, +44% over Friday on its way to a $6.2M 3-day in 4th place, 5-day opening of $9.5M.
Updates: NEON is calling the 21st weekend of 4x Oscar winnerParasite at $1.5M, -50% at 1,324 with a running total of $51.5M in 12th place.
Refresh for more analysis and a chart.
4TH Writethru, Saturday AM after overnight post: Horror films in the wake of New Line’s It Chapter Two ($91M opening) have been in a frightening free fall at the domestic box office, and for various reasons.
They were either too long or based off of a non-mass appealing piece of source material (i.e. Warner Bros.’ truly sublime Doctor Sleep, which went into a coma with $31.6M domestic final), so cheap that their distributors believed that there was no reason to spend any more money than what was necessary (hence lower grosses, i.e. Brahms: Boy II, Countdown), or just flat out awful (the F-graded Grudge and The Turning, plus the D+ Cinemascore pic Black Christmas). After seeing broad comedies get swallowed up whole by streaming and minimized at the box office, the last thing major studio executives need is for another crowd-appealing genre, in which moviegoers have a great shared experience, gets diminished entirely on mobile phones.
And so, this weekend’s opening for Universal-Blumhouse’s The Invisible Man, now between $26M-$27M off its $7M production cost (before P&A), is a wonderful reminder that low budget genre fare continues to work. Grosses for the Leigh Whannell-directed and written film have improved from Friday afternoon to a current $9.9M (including Thursday night’s $1.65M). Universal’s hope is that Invisible Man continues to play like a thriller, with Saturday being even with Friday’s box office (or even better) and not like a horror movie, which is typically front-loaded.
While arthouse-mixed-with-genre can often divide horror fans (i.e. Midsommar, Crimson Peak), socially conscious genre fare clicks, resonates, and wins all around with critics and audiences, and that’s what we’re seeing here again with Invisible Man in the wake of Universal/Blumhouse’s Oscar-winning blockbuster Get Out and Jordan Peele’s second directorial, Us. Universal knows that in a cookie cutter brand major motion picture event world, it pays to be truly unique. They learned that the hard way when they executed that old fashioned formula of star (Tom Cruise)+ franchise (The Mummy). It didn’t necessarily yield a box office result like it would in the 1980s, 1990s, or the early aughts (and there were other things that were wrong with that 2017 movie). When turning a noted property, like Invisible Man, on its head, you have to keep it cheap, and trust in a visionary. Australian Insidious Chapter 3 and Upgrade filmmaker Whannellwalked onto the Uni lot and pitched his own twist on H.G. Wells’ Invisible Man (it’s not about the man, rather the woman, specifically the invisible man’s girlfriend), rather than being shackled with some pre-conceived tropes of a dusty property.
Moviegoers want to organically discover their franchises, and not be told they have to commit themselves to a “Dark Universe,” which is what Universal did so ambitiously back with its 2017 reboot of The Mummy. Uni will say that with this weekend’s success of Invisible Man, it’s a great step in putting their whole monster-verse back on the rails. And while that is true, what’s amazing here is how they built another crowd-appealing, critically acclaimed (90% certified fresh), socially conscious movie that is so much about now and #MeToo with Invisible Man. It’s not just senseless pulp, blood and guts. In the wake of Harvey Weinstein’s guilty verdict this week, which reinvigorated the #MeToo movement, Universal and Blumhouse couldn’t have hoped for a better time to release Invisible Man. Time‘s film critic Stephanie Zacharek hits the nail on the head when describing how Invisible Man speaks to bigger issues: “The movie’s violence opens up a larger question, keyed to the way the world reacts when a woman steps forward to call out abuse. What is it that makes us believe a woman’s story? If a woman is struck by an unseen hand, as Cecilia is, has it really happened? Where’s the proof? In The Invisible Man, it’s her word against his silence—and he doesn’t even have the guts to show his face.”
Even though guys over 25 remained the majority for Invisible Man, with 37%, females grew on Friday night over Thursday, with females 25+ repping 29% of the audience (up from 28%) and females under 25 at 18% (up from last night’s 13%). The latter loved Invisible Man the most at 80%, while females overall (46%) enjoyed Invisible Man a bit more than guys, 78% to 75%. Those 18-34 made up 61% of the crowd, with updated diversity demos being 45% Caucasian, 20% African American, 19% Hispanic, 16% Asian. PostTrak remained solid at 4 Stars, while CinemaScore was a B+, on par with Split, and just under Get Out‘s A-. Invisible Man played best on the coasts and the South. Imax and PLF screens rep 31% of the gross so far.
Late improv maestro and Second City pioneer Del Close famously said that when it comes to art and the audience, “treat your audiences like poets and geniuses, and they’ll have the chance to become them,” and it’s clear that Universal continues to have that philosophy in mind in developing their slates (i.e. pics like Yesterday, 1917, etc), shepherding their filmmakers and taking big swings in a franchise-laden event cinema atmosphere. While Disney plows forward with Pixar, Lucasfilm, Marvel, and live-action reboots of their classic toons, Uni is meeting the challenge to think outside the box.
Yes, yes, of course, let’s not forget that this is the same studio that made the disastrous feature adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats. The IP was historically always risky (that’s why it wasn’t made decades ago). But given Uni’s flair for blockbuster jukebox musicals like their Mamma Mia movies, they believed Cats to be a worthy gamble, given the fact that the stage musical made over $4 billion, the movie was casted up for the young with stars like Taylor Swift, and for sophisticated adults with award winning actors like Judi Dench and Ian McKellen, and the pic was in the hands of Uni’s Les Miserables hitmaker director Tom Hooper.
However, the stage musical’s unusual premise of singing cats (sans plot) coupled with uncanny valley designed felines, did not speak to today’s moviegoers, with millennials exclaiming WTF. At the same time over the holiday season, Uni teamed with Amblin to distribute a British WWI movie, 1917. Talk about risky. That’s certainly not a four-quad movie, and the subject matter is largely for old dudes. And who wants to see another British war film so soon after Dunkirk? But there was a huge hook, one that was big enough to get people to leave their couches and spend over $350M WW and see something that they’ve never seen before in a war movie, and that was that the cinematography was the starin its one continuous, jarring, awesome shot.
Sony Pictures TV/Funimation’s My Hero Academia: Heroes Risingalso played well on the coasts and the South. Overall, audiences in updated PostTrak gave it 5 stars, Parents 4 stars, and kids 3 stars. Families only repped 13% last night, with the general audience at 87% making up most of the crowd. Those who showed were 61% male and 80% under 35, with 64% falling between 18-34 years old. Among kids under 12, boys repped 44% of the crowd. Rivals are impressed by the anime pic’s near $9M five days at 1,260 given Funimation’s limited P&A spend.
NEON’s Oscar-winning Best Picture darlingParasite, which is still wide at 1,324 sans Imax, is poised to earn around $1.46M, -52%, for a total by EOD tomorrow of $51.5M in weekend 21. What is amazing many rival distribs is that the movie is still putting up big numbers while still being made available on VOD and DVD. Who says the big screen is dead? It can be argued that Parasite‘s tale this past awards season could have been Roma‘s, had that pic had the prestige of a full-on, theatrical release, box office grosses and all. Distribution folk continue to argue that at least $20M in box office grosses were left on the table with that Alfonso Cuaron 3x Oscar winner. Final domestic looks like $55M for sure, with some saying more.
Searchlight’s revisionist Peter Pan movie Wendyfrom Beasts of the Southern Wild filmmaker Benh Zeitlin posted $10,5K last night at NY’s Landmark 57th St and Angelika and LA’s Landmark, and Arclight Hollywood drawing from soft numbers. Overall, weekend looks like $31,3K for a per theater of $7,8K, which is awful. It stands to reason when the critics have blasted it at 40% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Sony Pictures Classics’ Michael Winterbottom comedy Greedstarring Steve Coogan and Isla Fisher also suffered from bad reviews at 59%, seeing soft numbers at NY’s Lincoln Square, Angelika and LA’s Landmark, and Arclight. Pic earned around $7K yesterday on its way to a bad $21K or $5,2K per theater.
Updated with Saturday AM industry figures:
thumb
rank
film
dis.
screens (chg)
friday(vs. pv fri)
3-day
tl
wk
1
Invisible Man
Uni/Blum
3,610
$9.9M
$26M-$27M
$26M-$27M
1
2
Sonic
Par
4,177 (-21)
$3.5M (-44%)
$15.2M (-42%)
$127.5M
3
3
Call of the Wild
Dis/20th
3,865 (+113)
$3.3M (-58%)
$12.8M (-48%)
$45.4M
2
4
My Hero Academia…
FUN
1,260
$1.8M
$5.5M
$8.8M
1
5
Bad Boys for Life
Sony
2,708 (-264)
$1.1M (-31%)
$4.1M (-29%)
$197.1M
7
6
Birds of Prey
WB
3,124 (-441)
$1.1M (-40%)
$3.9M (-43%)
$78.5M
4
7
Impractical Jokers
TruTV
1,705 (+1,348)
$893K (-6%)
$2.8M (+8%)
$5.9M
2
7
Brahms: Boy 2
STX
2,151
$730K (-67%)
$2.5M (-56%)
$9.7M
2
8
1917
Uni/Amb/NR
2,232 (-493)
$690K (-42%)
$2.5M (-41%)
$155.7M
10
10
Fantasy Island
Sony/Blum
2,724 (-60)
$639K (-50%)
$2.2M (-47%)
$23.9M
3
2nd Update, Friday Midday: The Invisible Man is on his way to a $9.1M first day, including last night’s $1.65M, for a 3-day between $23M-$25M at 3,610 theaters. I’ve heard from various exhibitors that advance ticket sales are far ahead of Universal/Blumhouse’s Ma which posted at first day of $7.2M and opening of $18.1M last June. As of this minute, ticket sales are surging so by tonight we may see a higher result. At this range, it’s a very good start for the $7M Univeral-Blumhouse production. Get Out posted a first day of $10.8M, which included $1.8M previews, on its way to a $33.3M start.
Paramount’s 3rd weekend of Sonic the Hedgehogis taking 2nd with an estimated $13.85M at 4,177 off a Friday of $3.2M (-50%), -47%, and running total by Sunday of $126.1M
Disney/20th Century Studios’ TheCall of the Wild in its second weekend is seeing $12.875M at 3,865 off a Friday of $3.5M (-56%), overall -48% for the weekend. That puts its 10-day at $45.5M.
In 4th is Sony Pictures TV/Funimation’sMy Hero Academia: Heroes Risingwhich is looking at $5M-$6M at 1,260 after a $2M-$2.2M Friday. 10-day could hit $9.3M on the high end.
Warner Bros.’ Birds of Preycould file 5th with $3.9M at 3,124, -43% for a running total in weekend 4 of $77.7M. Sony’s Bad Boys for Life is now in 6th in weekend 7 with $3.6M at 2,708, -38% for a running total of $196.6M.
STX’s Brahms: The Boy 2is looking at $2.6M in weekend 2 in 7th place, -55%, for a 10-day of $9.7M.
WarnerMedia’s TruTV’sImpractical Jokerswhich expanded from 357 theaters to 1,820 is seeing $725K today, -24%, for a 3-day of $2.2M, -16%, and a 10-day of $5.3M.
1st Update, Friday 7:34AM: Universal-Blumhouse’s The Invisible Manmade its first appearance Thursday night at 7 PM shows nationwide with $1.65 million at 2,850 theaters, an amount of cash that’s near both studios’ previous collaborations, Get Out ($1.8M Thursday) and Split ($2M). Invisible Man expands to 3,610 today.
Both 2017 titles overperformed their $20M-predicted tracking at the time, with Split posting a $40M start, and Get Out taking $33.3M. Invisible Man, directed and written by Leigh Whannell, is forecasted to be in the mid- to high-$20M range, a solid start for the $7M net production shot with Australian tax credits However, like Split and Get Out, it’s expected to go higher potentially in the $30M+ zone.
Exits and reviews indicate that milepost is possible, with Invisible Man‘s Rotten Tomatoes score at 92% Certified Fresh being just under Get Out‘s 98% certified fresh, but much higher than Split‘s 77% certified fresh and Halloween‘s 79% certified fresh. The RT score is key because that’s the catalyst that will persuade non-genre die-hards to buy tickets.
PostTrak last night for the R-rated Invisible Man showed 4 stars with a 53% definite recommend. Guys over 25 dominated at 47% last night, with 28% females over 25, 13% females under 25 and 12% men under 25. The biggest quad was the 25-34 folks at 39%, with a diversity read of 49% Caucasian, 22% Hispanic, 13% Asian and 12% African American.
Among those films in regular release Thursday, Disney/20th Century Studios’ Call of the Wildled with an estimated $1.45M, off 3% from Wednesday, for a first-week cume of $32.6M. Weekend 2 is estimated to be down 45% for a second-frame take of $13.6M for the Harrison Ford movie.
Paramount’s Sonic the Hedgehog ends Weekend 2 with a running total of $112.2M after a $1.17M Thursday, +2% from Wednesday, in second place for the day. Sonic should see a third weekend that’s around $17M, -35%.
Third place according to early AM estimates goes to Sony Pictures TV-Funimation’s anime feature My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising. Last night we heard that not all the pic’s theaters were accounted for on Wednesday and instead of a $1.7M opening day it was actually $2.5M at 1,275 locations. Right now Thursday looks like $793K (updated), -68%, per estimates, for a two-day take of $3.3M. 3-day outlook is around $6M.
PostTrak shows that fans are out in bulk with the pic scoring 5 stars and a 73% definite recommend and an 86% general audience, 15% families. Both parents and kids under 12 gave the movie 4 stars. Boys 10-12 made up half the kid crowd, while girls 10-12 showed up at 28%. Overall combined audience stats were 34% guys under 25, 24% men over 25, 23% females under 25 and 19% females over 25.
Once again, the former SNL scribe did away with a typical monologue in favor of a stand-up routine, which acknowledged the show’s first-ever Leap Day episode, as well as the current political climate (without explicitly referencing President Trump).
“Leap year began in the year 45 B.C. under Julius Caesar,” Mulaney said. “He started the leap year in order to correct the calendar and we still do it to this day. Another thing that happened under Julius Caesar was he was such a powerful maniac that all the senators grabbed knives and they stabbed him to death. That’d be an interesting thing if we brought that back now.” Then, after a slight pause, he added, “I asked my lawyer if I could make that joke and he said, ‘Let me call another lawyer,’ and that lawyer said yes.”
What followed was what we’ve come to expect from a Mulaney-led outing: An assortment of old-timey skits and not one, but two musical satires, including the third (and final?) installment in what can now be referred to as the “Diner Lobster” trilogy.
BEST: AIRPORT SUSHI Mulaney enlisted two members of the Sack Lunch Bunch — Jake Gyllenhaal as Guy Who Travels in Pajamas, and musical guest David Byrne as “a baggage handler who throws your luggage into Long Island Sound” — for this terrific follow-up to “Diner Lobster” and “Bodega Bathroom.” This time around, it was an ode to airport sushi, with Kate McKinnon as Auntie Orphan Anne and Bowen Yang as a masked Asian being racially profiled amid coronavirus fears. Far and away the best sketch of the night.
BEST: SOUND OF MUSIC — ROLF AND LIES! Mulaney and Cecily Strong led this delightfully perverse sendup of the beloved musical, which poked fun at the relationship between Liesl Von Trapp and Rolf Gruber — the latter of whom revealed himself to be much older than he initially led on during “16 Going on 17.”
BEST: CHRIS REDD ON BLACK HISTORY MONTH First it was Ego Nwodim. Then it was Chloe Fineman. This week, it was Redd who got his chance to shine during Weekend Update. Here, the underutilized cast member discussed some of the things that have insulted black people during Black History Month, including Harriet Tubman doing “Wakanda forever” on a Visa credit card (“It looks like she got recaptured!” he remarked), and a lack of representation among the remaining Democratic candidates for presidents.
“Kamala gone! Cory Booker gone! Which means me in debate sketches gone!” Redd exclaimed. “The blackest candidate we have left is Joe ‘I Got a Black Friend’ Biden. He’s cool, but listening to that dude talk is like watching an old man parallel park his own thoughts for 20 minutes.”
BEST: THE ADMIRAL As amusing as Mulaney was as “pass-around party bottom” Julian, the MVPs here were Kate McKinnon and Aidy Bryant, whose back-and-forth attempts to kill each other prior to the admiral’s arrival were just as funny the second time around.
HONORABLE MENTION: CORONAVIRUS COLD OPEN While not revolutionary, Larry David playing Bernie Sanders as, well, Larry David, continues to delight. The impression, if we can even call it that, has held up much better than Alec Baldwin’s Donald Trump. Conversely, SNL has no idea what to do with Joe Biden. Mulaney’s impression of the South Carolina primary victor felt like the show throwing up its hands and shrugging at the audience. (Watch it here.)
WORST: KYLE’S TRANSFORMATION Justin Theroux made a fun cameo as a personal trainer in this otherwise forgettable short. While I appreciated the meta commentary on Kyle Mooney’s struggle to get airtime, I didn’t find the visual of Mooney in prosthetics to be all that funny. Conversely, seeing Colin Jost and Michael Che on the cover of a fictitious SNL magazine was funny.
What were your favorite sketches this week? And what missed the mark? Watch all of the highlights (and lowlights) above, then grade the episode in our poll.
Kim Kardashian and daughter North WestGetty Images
Kim Kardashian showed up to husband Kanye West’s Sunday Service this morning in Paris wearing a sexy latex outfit straight off the French runways.
The liquidy look – a cinched tan blazer (complete with attached gloves) and matching leggings – debuted on Balmain’s runway just this past Friday morning in Paris. She finished the look with a sleek ponytail and strappy sandals.
It’s no surprise that Kardashian West got first dibs: The French house’s designer Olivier Rousteing has been longtime friends with the couple, and was seated next to Kardashian West during the surprise service.
The service was invite-only, with select recipients receiving invitations just yesterday afternoon.
West will follow-up on Monday night with a presentation of Yeezy Season 8 in the City of Lights.
Jennifer Lopez has been experiencing many high-profile moments in her career lately. The Bronx-diva performed during the Super Bowl half-time alongside Shakira and killed it on the stage. However, there was a gloomy cloud over her head which had to do with per performance on Hustlers. Despite getting rave reviews for her acting skills as Ramona, she didn’t manage to get an Oscar nomination for her stripper role.
Jennifer Lopez | Emma McIntyre/Getty Images
Since the debut of the film in movie festivals, there was buzz that Lopez would get recognized by the Academy Awards. She managed to snag several nods which included the Golden Globes and the Spirit Awards, but the Oscars snubbed her.
Lopez had been silent about her feelings at the time. It would take Oprah Winfrey for J.Lo to finally address what went through her mind after being left out from Hollywood’s biggest night.
“I was sad, I was a little sad because there was a lot of buildup to it,” Lopez told Winfrey during Oprah’s 2020 Vision Tour which was shared by The Hollywood Reporter. “There were so many articles, I got so many good notices — more than ever in my career — and there was a lot of ‘She’s going to get nominated for an Oscar, it’s going to happen, if it doesn’t you’re crazy.’ I’m reading all the articles going, ‘Oh my god, could this happen?’ And then it didn’t and I was like ‘Ouch,’ it was a little bit of a letdown. Also, I felt like my whole team — most of my team has been with me for years, 20, 25 years — and I think they had a lot of hopes on that and they wanted it too, so I felt like I let everyone down a little bit.”
Jennifer Lopez struggled
Lopez was not shy about sharing she was sad for not scoring the nomination for her role on Hustlers. For the “I’m Real” hitmaker, the snub made her think of all the good things in her life. Lopez decided to see the glass half-full and examine all the positive things in her career instead of focusing on the negatives.
“I had to re-examine like ‘Why do you do this, what are you so sad about right now?” Lopez added. “You just had the most amazing year of your life — you just had the biggest opening of a movie in your career, you just walked the runway in Milan and had a fashion moment [in her iconic Versace dress], you’re doing the Super Bowl in a couple of weeks, what is it?'”
“And you want people’s validation,” Lopez continued. “You want people to say you did a good job, and I realized, ‘No you don’t need that, you do this because you love it,” eventually realizing that “I don’t need this award right here to tell me that I am enough.”
Lopez’s thought process served as an example of how to bring oneself back up when faced with a challenge. Her talent is endless and she is successful all-around and will continue to surprise fans in the process.
"I'm Vice President Mike Pence," Bennett said. "Most of you know me from the sentence 'Even if Trump was removed, we'd still be stuck with Mike Pence.'"
Bennett's Pence then explained that President Trump had put him in charge of combating the coronavirus, "even though I don't believe in science."
"And I have to admit, this disease has been quite the test of my faith," he said. "Just like dinosaur bones."
He then took questions from the White House press pool. The first question came from Mike Bloomberg, who was played by Fred Armisen.
"What are you doing here? How'd you get past security?" Bennett's Pence asked.
"Well, I just walked in coughing and everybody got out of my way," Armisen's Bloomberg responded.
Then, he asked Bennett's Pence if it seems "like a good time to have a president that's competent and capable" even if that candidate lacks charisma and the ability to connect with human beings?
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, played by Kate McKinnon, popped up from behind a podium to torment Armisen's Bloomberg.
"Did you really think you were going to get away from me that easy?" she said. "This is my job now. I follow you around and make your life a living hell. I might be fifth in the polls, but I'm No. 1 in your nightmares."
This led this week's host, John Mulaney, to join the conversation as former Vice President Joe Biden.
"Now, listen, folks, if we want to fight 'China cough' we got to be smart," he said. "We got to make sure to get new teeth daily."
Mulaney's Biden was then interrupted by Sen. Bernie Sanders, played by Larry David.
"You got to admit, folks, universal healthcare doesn't sound too crazy now, does it?" David's Sanders said.
McKinnon's Warren then told the crowd to make sure that they use Purell hand sanitizer.
"No, no, no, no, no! No Purell," David's Sanders said. "I got a bottle of that junk and on the label it said, 'it kills 99.99% of germs. What happens to the top .01%?! Why are we protecting them?"
David's Sanders then said to just use "good old fashioned bar soap" and "scalding hot water."
HONORABLE MENTION: CORONAVIRUS COLD OPEN
