Weekend news roundup 16/12: Kraven flops and Prem managers sacked

Jonathan Victoria • 16 Dec 2024 News

Plus 2030 & 2034 World Cups, F1 latest and more box office news!

Wolves & Southampton looking for new direction

The Premier League is proving to be incredibly exciting this year but for some, they haven’t had much to get excited for. Two of those teams are Wolves and Southampton, both of whom find themselves at the bottom of the table and now without a manager at the helm.

Gary O’Neil fell first after Wolves’ defeat at home to Ipswich, a fellow relegation candidate, while Russell Martin was given his marching orders shortly after the Saints’ embarrassing 5-0 loss to Tottenham, also at home where all five goals came in one of the most lopsided first halves in Premier League history.

This is the third and fourth manager dismalls of the year, following Steve Cooper’s departure from Leicester and Erik ten Hag’s exit from Manchester United.

There has already been some news from both sides regarding successors. For Wolves, it is said they are ‘optimistic’ about signing current Al-Shabab manager Vitor Pereira, while Southampton are supposedly putting together a shortlist that features former manager Ralph Hassenhuttl’s assistant Danny Rohl, who is currently in charge at Sheffield Wednesday.

Kraven the Hunter caps off abysmal Sony Spider-Man universe

Credit: Kraven the Hunter | Official Trailer (Marvel Entertainment, YouTube)

Unsurprisingly to most, Kraven the Hunter failed to impress in its opening box office weekend, bringing in just $11m in the US - half of what Wicked saw, which has been in cinemas for five weekends now.

The latest film in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe, which interestingly doesn’t feature Spider-Man in any of the projects, has somehow managed to do worse than February’s Madame Web, which was an early candidate for worst major budget movie of the year before Kraven clutched up right at the end.

International numbers don't help it either, as from more than 21,500 screens in 60 markets, it was only able to find another $15m.

As far as movie universes go, Sony’s Spider-Man Universe, which also featured the Venom trilogy (also not brilliant) and Morbius (don’t even), might just about be the worst. Mercifully, Sony have said they have “developed what they want to develop for now” and are turning their focus onto the fourth installment of the Tom Holland Spider-Man series.

F1 latest: Rwanda race bid & Perez in or out?

The F1 season might be over but the rumour mill is not. There’s always something going on somewhere in the wild world of Formula 1, and with the FIA Prize Giving ceremony happening over the weekend, there is plenty to still talk about.

First off was the announcement that the host nation for the prize giving ceremony, Rwanda, has made an official bid to become a host of a Grand Prix.

F1 has talked about expanding and returning to Africa during this year and it seems as though there may be some substance to those talks. Rwanda may not be everyone’s first thought but president Paul Kagame has said they have already made “good progress” in talks with F1 and FIA officials.

Elsewhere, Red Bull’s Sergio Perez conundrum may be reaching its conclusion this week. After current Visa CashApp RB driver Yuki Tsunoda drove for the main team in the post-season test, he has come out to say he believes his chances of getting the promotion are “50-50”.

As well as that, Red Bull are said to be ready to make their decision this week, despite previous sources claiming it was more down to Perez and if he decides he wants out.

Box Office milestones for many

Back to the box office and there have been some significant milestones for multiple movies this year.

Moana 2 has seen multiple records, such as the biggest global opening weekend for an animated movie, the best Thanksgiving weekend opener ever, and the biggest opening gross for an animated Disney movie.

Wicked has far surpassed the mark of the highest-grossing Broadway adaptation in history, sitting now at $524.9m worldwide.

And for Gladiator II, or more specifically one of the main cast of the film Denzel Washington, the films now $398.5m worldwide box office is the Academy Award-winner's top grossing film in his career - impressive given his stellar filmography.

2030 & 2034 World Cup hosts selected

FIFA have announced the winning bids for the 2030 and 2034 World Cups, with a first-time-in-history coming for 2030.

The former of the two tournaments will take place primarily in three countries spanning two continents. Spain, Portugal and Morocco will be on hosting duties for the centennial celebration of the World Cup.

While those three countries will be the primary hosts, with the tournament coming 100 years on from the first edition there will also be three ceremonial games taking place in Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay, the significance being that the first ever World Cup was held in Uruguay in 1930.

As for the 2034 World Cup announcement, it came in rather funny circumstances that Saudi Arabia was the only bidding nation. We won’t discuss how ethical the voting process was here, but we certainly can’t stop you from researching yourself and coming to your own conclusion. Just bare in mind FIFA’s history.