Weekend news roundup 10/06: New champion & box office toppers

Monday 10 June 2024 by Jonathan Victoria  News

Alcaraz wins in Paris, completes Surface Slam

Credit: Alexander Zverev vs Carlos Alcaraz | Final | French Open 2024 Extended Highlights (Eurosport Tennis, YouTube)

Carlos Alcaraz dug deep and fought hard to be Alexander Zverev to win the French Open three sets to two, completing his career Surface Slam.

The match was an even affair, both men having periods of dominance over the other, most notably Zverev going up two sets to one.

Ultimately, though, Alcaraz was able to push on and quel the threat from the German, taking the next two sets 6-1 and 6-2 to take his first French Open title.

With the win, the young Spaniard has now won a Grand Slam on each court type, having won the hard court US Open in 2022 and the grass court Wimbledon in 2023. The next achievement will be to win the Australian Open (hard court) to complete his career Grand Slam.

Bad Boys shoot to the top of box office

Credit: BAD BOYS: RIDE OR DIE – Final Trailer (HD) (Sony Pictures Entertainment, YouTube)

The reviews are decent and so are the box office numbers as Will Smith and Martin Lawrence’s latest Bad Boys film has taken the top spot in its debut box office weekend.

Bad Boys: Ride or Die brought in $56m domestically, just ahead of its $48m-$50m projections. It also brought in a further $48.6m internationally, giving it a $104.6m global total so far.

Dropping from the top spot this week was The Garfield Movie, which in its third week at the box office brought in a modest $10m domestically. Chris Pratt’s Garfield voice obviously is good enough for the masses as the film so far has made $192.7m globally.

In third was John Krasinski’s live-action animated family film IF, which in it fourth box office week, brought in $8m to add to its now global total of $160.7m.

Verstappen comes away with win in Canada

Credit: HIGHLIGHTS! Who mastered the rain in Montreal? | 2024 Canadian Grand Prix Highlights (Sky Sports F1, YouTube)

Max Verstappen won in Montreal this weekend for a hat-trick of Canadian Grand Prix wins, but unlike last year’s win, he was made to work for it.

George Russell surprisingly took pole position, with Verstappen and himself putting in identical lap times (Russell set his first so he kept pole).

The wet weather made for a slow start but no big incidents. Russell kept first but as the race and track progressed, strategy calls were the main aim of the game. Russell lost his lead in the first round of pit stops, while Lando Norris was looking good to win his second race, seemingly looking quicker than even Verstappen.

Ultimately, a poorly-timed safety car ruined the lead that Norris had built over Verstappen, and when he pit a lap after Verstappen and Russell both already had, he came out behind. From then on, the Dutchman was able to see the race through and take his sixth win of the year.

Fallout season 2 production on expedited timeline

Wouldn't want to keep you on the edge of your seat, now, would we? 

See you back in the Wasteland for SEASON 2. pic.twitter.com/ULs6DEPHDW

— FALLOUT⚡️ (@falloutonprime) April 18, 2024

Fans of Prime Video’s hit Fallout series will be glad to hear that season two is already well underway, with showrunners Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Graham Wagner said to be keen to get it released quickly.

The pair spoke The Hollywood Reporter, answering five burning questions about their second-season plans, and in the process stated their interest in getting the next season out as soon as possible.

Fallout was a surprise hit for Prime Video. Despite good interest from fans that started from the first teaser announcement, the streaming service wasn’t sure how the show would be received when released, hence why all episodes were made available on the day of release.

But after rave reviews all around, Prime Video announced its renewal for season two just a week after its release, and now the showrunners are looking to get it out “as fast as humanly possible.”

England in tough spot after Australia World Cup loss

England have it all to do now in Group B 😬🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 pic.twitter.com/ONgnSSvYr4

— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) June 8, 2024

England’s T20 World Cup campaign has had a tough start after a washout against Scotland and a loss to Australia.

Their opening match against neighbours Scotland was abandoned due to poor weather conditions, with only the Scots getting a turn at bat. Even in their short 10-overs, things were not looking good for England, who struggled with their bowling in that game.

Those struggles then spilt over to their second match against their biggest rivals, Australia, who largely got the game done in their first five overs, putting in 70 runs during the power play to set them nicely, ultimately leaving England with an outrageous target of 202 to catch by the end.

England’s fate could now be out of their hands. They need to win their remaining two group stage games against Namibia and Oman, and ideally by large margins, and hope Scotland don’t beat Australia so the defending champions can take the second spot level on points with the Scots but going through to the Super Eights via a superior net run-rate.