Weekend news roundup 12/02: Super Bowl special

Monday 12 February 2024 by Jonathan Victoria  News

Chiefs win third championship in five years

The Kansas City Chiefs have been crowned the 2023 NFL season champions after defeating the San Francisco 49ers 25-22 in Super Bowl LVIII.

A replay of Super Bowl LIV, the championship game was decided in overtime with Chiefs star quarterback Patrick Mahomes throwing the walk-off touchdown in the dying seconds to take the victory.

The victory now marks the Chiefs’ third title in five years, having made four Super Bowl appearances in that time. 

Mahomes especially is carving out an outstanding legacy. At just 28 years old, he has three Super Bowl rings, two NFL MVPs, three Super Bowl MVPs, six Pro Bowls and much more, all achieved in just seven seasons.

Usher half-time performance splits opinions

R&B star Usher had the grand honour of the Super Bowl half-time performer and delivered a hit-heavy star-studded show that seems to have split opinions from everyone.

Joined by fellow artists such as Alicia Keys, Ludacris, Lil Jon, Will.i.am and HER, Usher performed a number of his greatest hits, including Yeah! and Love in This Club.

For the most part, many enjoyed the show. Usher came with his renowned high-energy and brilliant stage presence to create a memorable set that some have claimed to be a top-five half-time show of all time.

But there was also a vocal number who were seemingly unimpressed with the performance, which was to be expected. Usher these days is more of a niche act, and despite playing his well-known hits, many were still calling for a current industry-leading artist instead.

49ers early favourites for Super Bowl 2025

For the Vegas sportsbooks, it’s never too early to list the odds of the favourites for next year’s Super Bowl champion, and despite losing in this year's big game, the San Francisco 49ers are currently leading the way.

The Niners currently are favourites for Super Bowl LIX, followed by this year's champions Kansas City Chiefs.

The Baltimore Ravens, led by reigning NFL MVP Lamar Jackson are in third. They were at one point favourites to win this year but fell short in the AFC Championship game.

Fourth favourites are the Buffalo Bills, spearheaded by franchise quarterback Josh Allen, while in tied-fifth place are the Detroit Lions and Cincinnati Bengals, both of which have high expectations placed on them for strong campaigns once again next year,

New trailers debuted during Super Bowl

Fair warning, the following trailer features strong language and violence.

Credit: Deadpool & Wolverine | Official Teaser | In Theaters July 26 (Marvel Entertainment, Youtube)

Commercial spots during the Super Bowl are a special commodity for all, with a short 30-second TV ad costing around $ 7 million.

As such, big reveals are usually shown during these spots, and this year saw some trailers for highly-anticipated movies coming later this year.

The biggest of which was the first trailer for the third Deadpool movie, now named Deadpool & Wolverine, which will be Marvel’s only movie release for 2024.

Other top film trailers shown were Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, Disney’s Inside Out 2, Ryan Gosling’s next feature Fall Guy, Despicable Me 4, Kung Fu Panda 4 and a first trailer for Wicked Part 1, a cinematic adaptation of the hit Broadway musical.

Another disappointing box office weekend

Moving away from the Super Bowl, it was a disappointing weekend yet again at the box office, with Argylle remaining at number one but not improving on their lacklustre debut weekend last week.

Bringing in just $6.5m domestically, the film has made just $28.8m now in total domestically. A further $31.3m internationally helps it only to a current worldwide total of $60.1m. It should be noted the film cost $200m to produce.

Behind Argylle was debutant Lisa Frankenstein, a horror-comedy from Focus Features. It brought in just $3.8m domestically, but against its $13m production, that’s a decent first weekend, especially considering it’s not going to be released in the UK until 1st March.

In third place once more was Jason Statham’s The Beekeeper, which brought in another $3.4m domestically. That now brings its total to $54.7m domestically, $79.2 internationally for a $133.9m global total.