Entertainment
Paul Rudd and Nick Jonas Together in One Film Sounds Too Good and ‘Power Ballad’ Somehow Makes It Even Better Than You Expected…
John Carney’s latest musical dramedy pairs a washed-up wedding singer with a fallen pop star, and the result is the kind of warm, funny, deeply felt crowd-pleaser that reminds you why you fell in love with movies in the first place
Some films arrive with a premise so effortlessly appealing that the only real question is whether the execution can match the idea. Power Ballad answers that question decisively, and then goes a little further than you expected it to.
Directed by John Carney — the Irish filmmaker who has quietly built one of the most consistent bodies of work in contemporary cinema through Once, Begin Again, and Sing Street — Power Ballad is the kind of movie that doesn’t reinvent the wheel so much as remind you why the wheel was worth inventing. It’s warm without being saccharine, funny without undercutting its emotional core, and anchored by two lead performances that genuinely surprise.
The Setup That Works Better Than It Should
Paul Rudd plays a washed-up wedding singer — a man living in the long shadow of a talent that never quite broke through, still performing covers at receptions for people who are too caught up in their own happiness to really listen. It’s a character type that could tip easily into self-pity, but Rudd, being Rudd, makes him disarmingly likeable from the first scene. There’s a specific skill this actor has — the ability to play losers without making you feel superior to them — and it’s deployed beautifully here. Follow Paul Rudd on Wikipedia and on X for the latest updates.
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Nick Jonas plays the other half of this equation: a former boy band star navigating the particular humiliation of post-fame life, where the world still recognises your face but no longer cares about your music. It’s a role that requires a certain self-awareness — the willingness to lean into the joke without making it only a joke — and Jonas handles it with considerably more grace and depth than most people would have predicted. His musical background, of course, doesn’t hurt. But the performance is more than competence; there are moments in Power Ballad where Jonas does something quietly devastating, and you realise the casting was a genuine creative decision, not just a piece of clever marketing. Keep up with Nick Jonas on X and
The Chance Encounter That Changes Everything
The film’s central relationship begins, as the best ones often do, in slightly awkward circumstances. A chance encounter — the specifics of which are best left for the audience to discover — throws these two men together in a way that neither of them wanted and both of them needed. What follows is, at its bones, a classic odd-couple story about two people at different stages of the same fundamental crisis: what do you do when the thing that defined you no longer belongs to you?
Carney has always been interested in this question. His films return repeatedly to the idea of music as emotional currency — the way a song can carry the weight of everything a person can’t say out loud. Power Ballad fits squarely in that tradition, but it brings a more explicitly comedic energy than his earlier work. The laughs are genuine and frequent, but they never feel like they’re protecting the film from having to deal with harder things. If anything, the humour makes the harder moments land heavier.
John Carney Does It Again
There’s a temptation to take John Carney for granted at this point. He makes films that feel inevitable in retrospect — of course Once was that moving, of course Sing Street was that joyful — but the consistency of his output is actually extraordinary. Power Ballad doesn’t break new ground for him, and it doesn’t need to. What it does is demonstrate, again, that he understands music and human longing in a way that very few filmmakers working today can match. Follow Carney’s work and projects on
The film’s original songs — and there are several — are the kind that get lodged in your head for days. One in particular, a duet between Rudd and Jonas that arrives in the film’s third act, is the sort of movie moment people will be talking about long after they’ve forgotten the plot details. It’s a scene that earns its emotional payoff through everything that came before it, and when it arrives, it doesn’t feel manipulative. It feels like a natural conclusion to two characters finding, through music, something they’d both stopped believing was still available to them.
What the Critics Are Saying
Early reception for Power Ballad has been strongly positive, with particular praise directed at the chemistry between its two leads. The pairing of Rudd and Jonas sounds, on paper, like a studio pitch meeting gone unusually well — and perhaps it was — but on screen it functions as something richer than a concept. These two actors found something real in the dynamic, and Carney, true to form, captured it without over-explaining it.
Hulu, which is backing the film’s distribution, has another genuine awards-conversation title on its hands, though Power Ballad seems less interested in trophies than in the simpler, harder achievement of making an audience feel something.
Why It Matters Right Now
There’s a reason crowd-pleasers matter — not as a lesser category of cinema, but as their own distinct art form. Making a film that a wide range of people can sit with and come out of feeling better than they went in is not easy. It requires honesty, restraint, and a genuine belief that the audience deserves something real rather than something merely efficient.
Power Ballad has all of that. It’s the rare film that delivers exactly what it promises and then quietly, without making a fuss about it, delivers a little more.
Entertainment
How ‘Avengers: Endgame’ Returned to Cinemas and Reclaimed Box Office Glory
Renewed ticket sales send Marvel’s 2019 finale past ‘Avatar’ to lead the all-time global chart again.
Seven years after its original release, Avengers: Endgame has unfinished business at the box office.
The Marvel Studios blockbuster has overtaken James Cameron’s Avatar to become the highest-grossing film worldwide once again. According to The Walt Disney Company’s October 4 announcement, Endgame now holds an estimated $2.9255 billion, narrowly ahead of Avatar’s $2.9237 billion. That puts just $1.8 million between two of cinema’s biggest hits.
The lead is small. The comeback, however, is substantial: a film released in 2019 has drawn enough fresh ticket sales to rewrite the all-time chart.
The ‘Encore’ release that tipped the balance
The latest theatrical run, titled Avengers Endgame: Encore, has earned $126 million worldwide, according to TheWrap. That includes $36.2 million in North America and $89.8 million from international markets—the extra business that pushed the film back into first place.
Audiences also had a reason to return beyond revisiting a familiar blockbuster. TheWrap reports that the reissue features a modified ending and three new scenes during and after the credits, connected to Avengers: Doomsday. The release therefore serves two purposes: bringing an established favourite back to cinemas and giving viewers a bridge to the next Avengers story.
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A rivalry with a history of reversals
This is another change of leadership in a box office contest that has lasted for years.
Endgame first displaced Avatar in 2019. Cameron’s science-fiction epic regained the crown following its Chinese re-release in 2021. Now, another theatrical return has swung the result in Marvel’s favour. Re-releases have become a decisive part of the competition, extending both films’ earning lives well beyond their original runs.
The distinction matters: this is the record for worldwide theatrical revenue without adjustment for inflation, including re-release earnings. It measures money collected rather than the number of tickets sold.
Why ‘Endgame’ matters to ‘Doomsday’
The timing gives Marvel’s comeback an added significance. Avengers: Doomsday is scheduled to reach cinemas on December 18, 2026, and Disney has positioned Endgame as an important foundation for that next chapter.
Explaining the connection, Anthony Russo said: “You really need to pick the story up from where you left it in Endgame.”
That makes this return more than a victory lap. A film remembered for closing a major chapter of Marvel’s story is now helping introduce the next one—and, along the way, has taken back Hollywood’s most closely watched box office title.
Entertainment
Tom Cruise’s ‘Digger’ Faces a Tough Opening: Could ‘Verity’ Take the Lead?
Cruise’s star power meets a fresh box office challenge as the Colleen Hoover adaptation emerges as a formidable rival.
Tom Cruise has spent years persuading audiences to watch him attempt the impossible. With Digger, the challenge is different: convincing moviegoers to embrace an eccentric, darkly comic character who bears little resemblance to his familiar action heroes.
Directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, the film arrives in US cinemas on October 2, 2026, carrying considerable expectations. Cruise plays Digger Rockwell, an oil tycoon confronting a catastrophe connected to his company’s actions. It is a conspicuous departure for an actor whose recent screen identity has been shaped by spectacular stunts and blockbuster franchises.
Yet the conversation before release has increasingly turned from Cruise’s transformation to a more uncomfortable question: how many people will buy a ticket?
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A costly film facing a modest opening
According to Koimoi’s September 30 report, Digger was tracking for a North American opening below $15 million, against a reported production cost of approximately $125 million. These are reported estimates, rather than confirmed earnings or a final accounting of the film’s costs.
That gap explains the concern surrounding Warner Bros.. An expensive production needs sustained attendance, and a subdued debut would place greater pressure on subsequent weekends and overseas markets.
An opening forecast cannot establish a film’s eventual profit or loss. It can, however, reveal how much work remains for the campaign.
Reviews have complicated the pitch
The critical response has been sharply divided. People reported reactions ranging from admiration for the film’s audacity and Cruise’s commitment to criticism of its scale, coherence and tone.
For potential ticket buyers, that creates an uncertain proposition. Cruise’s presence attracts attention, but attention does not automatically translate into enthusiasm for an unfamiliar kind of film.
The promotional campaign has leaned into that disagreement. The Guardian described advertising that places harsh reactions alongside praise, using the controversy itself to generate interest. Whether that approach encourages curiosity or deepens hesitation remains an open question.
Why ‘Verity’ makes the weekend more intriguing
The Hollywood Reporter expects Digger to open substantially behind Verity, the Amazon MGM Studios adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s novel. hollywoodreporter.com
Starring Anne Hathaway, Dakota Johnson and Josh Hartnett, Verity is also scheduled to open on October 2. Its psychological-thriller premise centres on a writer who discovers a disturbing manuscript while completing another author’s book series.
From a marketing perspective, an established novel and a recognisable thriller setup could offer a more immediate hook. Digger, by comparison, asks audiences to take a greater leap into unfamiliar territory.
The audience verdict is still ahead
Cruise has clearly committed to that leap. At the London premiere, Reuters reported that his transformation involved prosthetics and a padded bodysuit, alongside a demanding performance.
The commercial outcome remains unresolved. Strong audience recommendations could give Digger momentum beyond its initial forecasts. A weak response would make its financial challenge harder.
For now, the film’s biggest suspense lies beyond the screen: whether curiosity about Cruise’s unusual gamble becomes an opening-weekend ticket purchase.
Entertainment
‘Verity’ Could Outopen ‘Digger’: Why Tom Cruise Faces a Tough Contest
The competing releases raise a compelling question: which film will persuade more audiences to buy a ticket?
Tom Cruise has spent years persuading audiences to watch him attempt the impossible. With Digger, the challenge is different: convincing moviegoers to embrace an eccentric, darkly comic character who bears little resemblance to his familiar action heroes.
Directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, the film arrives in US cinemas on October 2, 2026, carrying considerable expectations. Cruise plays Digger Rockwell, an oil tycoon confronting a catastrophe connected to his company’s actions. It is a conspicuous departure for an actor whose recent screen identity has been shaped by spectacular stunts and blockbuster franchises.
Yet the conversation before release has increasingly turned from Cruise’s transformation to a more uncomfortable question: how many people will buy a ticket?
ALSO READ : Emmy Nominations Announcement Gets a Star Twist… Liza Colón-Zayas & Jeff Hiller Set to Reveal 2026 TV Nominees
A costly film facing a modest opening
According to Koimoi’s September 30 report, Digger was tracking for a North American opening below $15 million, against a reported production cost of approximately $125 million. These are reported estimates, rather than confirmed earnings or a final accounting of the film’s costs.
That gap explains the concern surrounding Warner Bros.. An expensive production needs sustained attendance, and a subdued debut would place greater pressure on subsequent weekends and overseas markets.
An opening forecast cannot establish a film’s eventual profit or loss. It can, however, reveal how much work remains for the campaign.
Reviews have complicated the pitch
The critical response has been sharply divided. People reported reactions ranging from admiration for the film’s audacity and Cruise’s commitment to criticism of its scale, coherence and tone.
For potential ticket buyers, that creates an uncertain proposition. Cruise’s presence attracts attention, but attention does not automatically translate into enthusiasm for an unfamiliar kind of film.
The promotional campaign has leaned into that disagreement. The Guardian described advertising that places harsh reactions alongside praise, using the controversy itself to generate interest. Whether that approach encourages curiosity or deepens hesitation remains an open question.
Why ‘Verity’ makes the weekend more intriguing
The Hollywood Reporter expects Digger to open substantially behind Verity, the Amazon MGM Studios adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s novel. hollywoodreporter.com
Starring Anne Hathaway, Dakota Johnson and Josh Hartnett, Verity is also scheduled to open on October 2. Its psychological-thriller premise centres on a writer who discovers a disturbing manuscript while completing another author’s book series.
From a marketing perspective, an established novel and a recognisable thriller setup could offer a more immediate hook. Digger, by comparison, asks audiences to take a greater leap into unfamiliar territory.
The audience verdict is still ahead
Cruise has clearly committed to that leap. At the London premiere, Reuters reported that his transformation involved prosthetics and a padded bodysuit, alongside a demanding performance.
The commercial outcome remains unresolved. Strong audience recommendations could give Digger momentum beyond its initial forecasts. A weak response would make its financial challenge harder.
For now, the film’s biggest suspense lies beyond the screen: whether curiosity about Cruise’s unusual gamble becomes an opening-weekend ticket purchase.
How ‘Avengers: Endgame’ Returned to Cinemas and Reclaimed Box Office Glory
Tom Cruise’s ‘Digger’ Faces a Tough Opening: Could ‘Verity’ Take the Lead?
‘Verity’ Could Outopen ‘Digger’: Why Tom Cruise Faces a Tough Contest
‘Endgame’ Returns to No. 1 ‘Avatar’ Loses Its Box Office Throne
Mark Zuckerberg Faces a New Hollywood Reckoning Why Aaron Sorkin’s Film Hits Closer to Home
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