Weekend news roundup 18/07: Wimbledon winners, new trailers & more

Jonathan Victoria • 18 Jul 2023 News

Select news stories from sports and entertainment.

Wimbledon Winners

Wimbledon champions Carlos Alcaraz and Marketa Vondrousova

The most prestigious tennis tournament in the world has crowned two new men’s and women’s champions.

The world number one Carlos Alcaraz came out on top in a highly anticipated and tightly contested match with all-time great Novak Djokovic, beating him in five sets to win his second Grand Slam title and first Wimbledon championship.

Marketa Vondrousova from the Czech Republic became the first unseeded female champion in tournament history and only the third player to do so for male and female single’s competition.

It was another brilliant edition of the long-standing competition with many surprises and worthy winners all around, with the two young winners showing that the next generation is truly upon the sport.

Mission: Impossible opening box office

The latest offering from Tom Cruise’s famous franchise, Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One, was released worldwide over the weekend and despite falling short of their projected box office, it has still set a franchise record for opening box office sales.

Bringing in $235 million globally, the film has had a mainly positive reception, with many saying it’s almost as good as Fallout, the consensus best film in the franchise.

However, with a $300 million budget, the film was projected to earn $85-95 million in its five-day opening in the US from Wednesday to Sunday. 

Instead, it fell just short of that projection, bringing in $80 million across the five days.

But of course, box office numbers aren’t the only measure of a good film. Dead Reckoning currently has a 96% on Rotten Tomatoes and an 8.1 on IMDB, showing that the critics and those who have gone to see it are really enjoying the newest Ethan Hunt adventure.

The Open build-up

The claret jug, awarded to the winner of The Open.

The 151st Open is upon us, with the golfing world descending upon Royal Liverpool Golf Club for an exciting weekend of high-quality competition.

This is the 12th time that the Open will be held at the course, with the last coming in 2014 when Rory McIlroy took his one and only Open championship victory to date.

Play will begin on Thursday, but the pageantry begins today with player press conferences, live looks and interviews with players at the range from 9am, and tee times announced at 12pm.

Rory is the favourite to win, with the Irishman looking to be in great form after winning the Scottish Open last weekend. 

But there’s plenty of talent who will be gunning for glory. Current world number one Scottie Scheffler is always in and around the top, while this year’s Masters champion Jon Rahm will be looking for his first Open title.

Plenty of other players will be in with a shout, though, with the likes of Rickie Fowler, Brooks Koepka, and hometown hero Tommy Fleetwood all in good form.

Napoleon movie trailer

Joaquin Phoenix teams up with Ridley Scott once again for the new biopic Napoleon, slated for release in November.

The film is (unsurprisingly) based on the rise to power of one of France’s most fearsome leaders, Napoleon Bonaparte, and his relationship with Empress Josephine, played by Vanessa Kirby.

Phoenix will be bringing his brilliance and academy award-winning skills to the role of Napoleon, and with Scott’s innate storytelling ability, this is sure to be one to pick up many nominations during awards season.