Weekend news roundup 08/04: Box office latest & Disney+ crackdown

Jonathan Victoria • 08 Apr 2024 News

Plus Littler-mania, Leverkusen-mania and Wrestlemania.

Bundesliga title all but wrapped up for Leverkusen

Credit: Bayern CRUMBLE! | Heidenheim 3-2 Bayern Munich | Bundesliga highlights (Sky Sports Football, Youtube)

Bayer Leverkusen has one hand on their first Bundesliga title after Bayern Munich suffered an embarrassing comeback loss to newly promoted side Heidenheim.

The most dominant force in German football squandered a two-goal lead to hand their opponents a historic win, the first time the side has ever beaten Bayern and the first time a newly promoted club has beaten Bayern after being two goals down in league history.

Leverkusen, who beat Union Berlin on the weekend, now sit 16 points clear with only six games remaining, which means they can clinch the title next weekend with a win over Werder Bremen.

The unlikely yet unforgettable fairytale run from Xabi Alonso’s side has seen them go unbeaten so far in the league, with 24 wins and only four draws from their 28 games, and it's hard to imagine Bremen putting up much of a challenge next weekend to prevent Leverkusen from lifting the well earned Meisterschale.

Disney+ to begin password crackdown soon

Disney+ will be following in Netflix’s footsteps by introducing a crackdown on password sharing soon, with plans to enact and roll out the new restrictions coming sometime in June.

Disney CEO Bob Iger announced the move in an interview with CNBC and explained that the rollout would start “in just a few counties in a few markets,” conveniently withholding the information as to which countries and markets will be targetted first, although he did mention that it would expand to all subscribers by September this year.

As unfortunate as it is for us as consumers, the move to crack down on password sharing has been a successful one for the services that have already implemented it, with Netflix reporting a significant increase in subscribers shortly after they made the move and even after hiking up the price of some of their subscription tiers.

Littler picking up steam with second nightly win

Credit: BACK-TO-BACK WINS! | Luke Littler goes top of the Premier League with Manchester win (Sky Sports Darts, Youtube)

Luke Littler is picking up steam in the Premier League Darts, taking his second consecutive victory with a nightly win over Gerwyn Price in Manchester which moves him top of the table.

The 17-year-old, competing in his first full professional season, has continued to stun the darting world with his competitiveness, finally cracking the code to nightly victories with back-to-back wins in Belfast and now Manchester.

He sits atop the table on 23 points so far, one ahead of world number and reigning world champion Luke Humphries. Nathan Aspinall and Michael van Gerwen round out the play-off spots at this stage with six weeks left of the regular season to play.

Littler's opponent in the final, Price, seemed a strong challenge after beating former world champion Michael Smith 6-3 in the last four which included a nine-dart finish.

Night 11 of the Premier League Darts will be at the Utilita Arena in Birmingham on Thursday 11th April. You can watch the action, as with all darts action this season, exclusively on Sky Sports .

Godzilla x Kong reigns supreme at box office once more

Credit: Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire | Official Trailer 2 (Warner Bros. Pictures, Youtube)

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire continues its reign at the head of the charts with a strong second weekend at the domestic box office, fending off new entrant Monkey Man and Ghostbuster: Frozen Empire.

The latest instalment of the MonsterVerse franchise grossed $31.7m domestically this weekend, bringing that total to $153m. A further $226m total internationally has seen the film reach $361m globally in roughly two weeks since its release.

Second place this weekend went to the newly released Monkey Man, which grossed $10.1m this weekend, plus $2.6m internationally.

The latest Ghostbusters revival, while being mediocre at best, grossed $9m domestically this weekend. It has now totalled $88.8m domestically and $49.3m internationally for a $138.1m global total.

Triple H receives high praise following Wrestlemania 40

WWE Wrestlemania 40 happened over the weekend and has garnered a lot of attention for the spectacle in Philadelphia both in and out of the ring, with the product on show now being advertised as a ‘new era for WWE’.

Wrestlemania is the biggest event in sports entertainment each year, but this year things were taken to a new level, no thanks to the new main in charge, Paul “Triple H” Levesque.

Earlier this year, the WWE was bought by TKO Group Holdings, who solidified Levesque's place essentially as the main man in charge. With Vince McMahon now completely out of the picture, Levesque took over his first Wrestlemania and delivered a spectacle the likes of which hadn’t been seen for years.

Many people within the company had been vocal already about their support for him, but many more comments from the WWE superstars themselves and other high-profile individuals such as Paul Heyman were made over the weekend.

Many mentions were also made to a new era for the WWE which begins following Wrestlemania, as it often does. Monday Night Raw tonight will be very telling as to what direction this era will be heading in, but it’s safe to assume with Levesque in charge, the company is sure to be heading in a great direction.