Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check - Nov 21, 2018

Today's the day the Thanksgiving weekend begins and at the movies, "Ralph Breaks the Internet," "Creed 2" and the latest "Robin Hood" remake are out in theatres. Hollywood insiders believe "Ralph Breaks the Internet" should pull in around $70 million to top the weekend box office, with "Creed 2" making around $50 million. "Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald," which made $62 million last weekend, should drop to third.

If you missed it, GEORGE R.R. MARTIN says he's working on a "Game of Thrones" prequel ...but it's not likely to have any of the things that made the "Game of Thrones" audience drool --in a recent interview he said there won't be Targaryens and there may not even be dragons in the show, which is rumored to be called "The Long Night." Check, please.

If you're one of those people who loved the movie "This Is Spinal Tap" when it came out 35 years ago, you'll be excited to find out that the stars of the film, CHRISTOPHER GUEST, MICHAEL McKEAN and HARRY SHEARER are getting back together for a one-night-only concert in which they'll perform as themselves in tribute to their fictional band, Spinal Tap. The performance will be before the special anniversary screening of the film at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival in NYC.

The folks at the National Retail Federation, who keep track of such things, say the average person will be spending 4.1 percent more than they did last year during the holidays, spending an average of $1,007.24 before the end of the year. And there's 164 million folks planning to shop over the Thanksgiving weekend. They'll spend in three main categories, with gifts being the primary one coming in at $637.67; food, decorations, flowers and greeting cards for $215.04 and some non-gift purchases (just because the deals are so good they can't resist) at $154.53.

The National Turkey Federation says 95 percent of Americans eat turkey on Thanksgiving --average weight of the family bird: 15 pounds. Yeah, that's nearly 700 million pounds of turkey that will be eaten tomorrow.

While we're at it, the U-S Census Bureau loves to tabulate obscure statistics related to some 20 holidays throughout the year; Thanksgiving is no exception. The typical American eats 13.7 pounds of turkey and 4.7 pounds of sweet potatoes annually.

A survey from the Lenox China Company about Turkey Day revealed the following:
--90 percent eat turkey
--9 percent eat ham
--2 percent will also serve pork or beef
--and 1 percent will serve chicken

America's favorite pies:
--Pumpkin, 63 percent
--Apple, 26 percent
--Pecan, 7 percent
--lemon meringue, 6 percent
--sweet potato, 5 percent
--chocolate cream, 4 percent
--coconut custard, 3 percent

Have a great Turkey Day... see you Monday!