| | | | What's news: Avatar 2 is now the fourth top-grossing film of all time. Lisa Loring, the actress who played Wednesday in The Addams Family TV show, has died. Harry Styles will perform at the Grammys. Amazon has snapped up a body swap comedy starring Julia Roberts and Jennifer Aniston. — Abid Rahman |
How History Caught Up With 'Emancipation' Producer Joey McFarland ►Corruption scandals, fugitives and on-set strife. Just a few years after being embroiled in the biggest corruption scandal in history, Emancipation producer Joey McFarland sparked controversy when he brandished a graphic photo of a former slave at the film’s premiere. THR's Alex Ritman writes that it was the latest example of the type of questionable behavior that saw the onetime Oscar nominee being asked to leave the set of his own movie. The story.
—Probably not happening. In an Oscars op-ed, THR's executive editor of awards Scott Feinberg writes that surprise best actress nominee Andrea Riseborough is unlikely to face sanctions for the unusual FYC campaign launched for her performance in To Leslie. Scott adds that the Brit actress' campaign follows in a long tradition of unabashed solicitation of votes that have often been, as in her case, the result of a financially uneven playing field. The op-ed.
—Bankable. Fresh off the surprise box office success of Ticket to Paradise, Amazon Studios has struck a deal for a body-swap comedy starring Julia Roberts and Jennifer Aniston. The movie is based on an original pitch by Palm Springs filmmaker Max Barbakow, who will write and direct. He’ll also produce alongside the two actresses and Lucky Chap Entertainment, the shingle co-founded by Margot Robbie. The story.
—🏆 "I’m a grownup and I’ve made a lot of films that have delighted a lot of grownups." Top Gun: Maverick was crowned best picture at AARP The Magazine‘s 21st annual Movies for Grownups Awards on Saturday, with Michelle Yeoh, Brendan Fraser, Baz Luhrmann, Sheryl Lee Ralph and Jeff Bridges also taking home some of the night’s top honors. Jamie Lee Curtis was recognized with the AARP Career Achievement Award, just a few days after receiving her first Oscar nomination for Everything Everywhere All at Once. The winners. |
Trevor Noah, Grammys Producer Tease Live Show ►"We can judge things by the way we did in 2015, or we can live in the world that we’re all existing in now." The 2023 Grammy Awards will feature live performances by Harry Styles, Bad Bunny, Lizzo, Sam Smith, Mary J. Blige and Luke Combs. But will Beyoncé be in the building? Will Adele or Kendrick Lamar hit the stage? THR's Mesfin Fekadu spoke to host Trevor Noah and executive producer Ben Winston about Sunday’s show, how they’re dealing with the decline in awards show ratings and Beyoncé’s potentially record-breaking moment. The interview.
—Ban threat remains. TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew is set to appear before the U.S. Congress on March 23 to testify on the short video app and its 2b strong platform’s consumer privacy and data security practices. The announcement was made by House Energy and Commerce Committee chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers on Monday, as opposition to TikTok and the platform’s impact on the U.S. market grows. The U.S. government has also probed ByteDance-owned TikTok’s relationship with the Chinese Communist Party. The story.
—"I’ve had a blessed career in the movie and television and theater business." Gary Sinise has spoken again about being a conservative in Hollywood and how his political beliefs have impacted his career. In a new interview, the Forrest Gump star also spoke about growing up in Highland Park, Illinois — the same area as the 2022 mass shooting — but was open about his support for the Second Amendment when addressing the issue of gun control. The story. |
'Last of Us' Creators Explain E3's Heartbreak Twists ►"I’m really curious to see what the reception will be because this is quite different." The Last of Us had its biggest deviation from its video game source material yet with a glorious detour in episode three ("Long Long Time") that told the 20-year tale of apocalypse survivors Bill (Nick Offerman) and Frank (Murray Bartlett). THR's James Hibberd spoke to co-showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann about the incredible episode. Warning: spoilers! The interview.
—"You don’t put a gun on the stage if you don’t intend to see it fired." James also spoke to Offerman and Bartlett, who breakdown "Long Long Time" from their perspective, and also discuss their roles, their character’s decisions, and the episode's gut-punch ending. Warning: spoilers! The interview. |
China's Box Office Bounces Back ►荒诞! After three long years of pandemic drift and deterioration, China’s movie box office was back in booming form over the weeklong Lunar New Year holiday. Total ticket sales over the six-day festive period, China’s most lucrative moviegoing window of the year, climbed to $993.8m this year, up 14 percent from the equivalent stretch in 2019, the last holiday prior to the pandemic. This year’s bonanza also easily topped the 2022 Lunar New Year, which brought in $888.2m.
The holiday’s undisputed box office champion was legendary local director Zhang Yimou, whose genre-bending period comedy thriller Full River Red topped the charts with $465m. Frank Guo’s sci-fi sequel The Wandering Earth 2, which rocketed to first place at the start of the holiday, slipped into second place after the first few days of the race and earned $377.5m. The China box office report.
—On it goes. Avatar: The Way of Water is now the fourth top-grossing film of all time at the global box office after passing up the $2.071b grossed globally by Star Wars: The Force Awakens, not adjusted for inflation. The Way of Water finished Sunday with a worldwide cume of $2.117b, meaning that James Cameron has now directed three of the four top-grossing films of all time.
THR's Pamela McClintock writes that it's looking likely The Way of Water will ultimately overtake Titanic even though a remastered 3D version of the latter film is being rereleased next week in time for Valentine’s Day (Paramount is handling the rerelease domestically, while Disney and 20th Century have international duties).
At the specialty box office, Sarah Polley’s Women Talking upped its theater count to 707 locations after scoring several top Oscar nominations, including best picture. The acclaimed film, from MGM, grossed $1m for a domestic total of $4.5m. The much-talked about To Leslie earned $250,000 or less from six theaters. The box office report. |
Lisa Loring 1958 - 2023 ►Lasting legacy. Lisa Loring, the actress who played Wednesday Addams on the classic TV adaptation of The Addams Family, has died. She was 64. Loring died Saturday night at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank of complications from a stroke caused by high blood pressure, her daughter Vanessa Foumberg told THR. The obituary.
—"She found wonder in the simplest moment." Annie Wersching, an actress known for her roles in TV dramas Bosch and 24, as well as her portrayal of Leslie Dean, the mother of alien superhero Karolina on Marvel’s Runaways, has died. She was 45. Wersching died from cancer on Sunday morning in Los Angeles, a rep for the actress told THR. Wersching, who was diagnosed with cancer in 2020, most recently had a series of recurring roles on Star Trek: Picard, where she played the Borg Queen, as well as The Rookie. The obituary. |
Film Review: 'Run Rabbit Run' ►"Remains frustratingly on the surface." THR's Jourdain Searles reviews Daina Reid's Run Rabbit Run. Succession's Sarah Snook plays a mother whose relationship with her young daughter takes a turn for the fraught in Reid's horror flick. The review.
—"A sturdy paean to a pioneering model." THR's Lovia Gyarkye reviews Bethann Hardison and Frédéric Tcheng's Invisible Beauty. This documentary chronicles Hardison's legendary modeling career and efforts to tackle discrimination in the industry. The review.
—"Powerful and poignant." THR's chief film critic David Rooney reviews Kristen Lovell and Zackary Drucker's The Stroll. In this doc, the filmmakers trace the history of New York’s Meatpacking District and its overnight gentrification from sex-worker beat to well-heeled hipster precinct. The review.
—"Moving and urgent." THR's Leslie Felperin reviews Tracy Droz Tragos' Plan C. The filmmaker behind 2016's Abortion: Stories Women Tell takes a look at the women running an advisory service for those seeking abortion drugs. The review.
—"Measured and sometimes muddled, but unquestionably important." THR's Sheri Linden reviews Nancy Schwartzman's Victim/Suspect. The second feature-length doc from the helmer of Roll Red Roll focuses on a journalist’s deep dive into a nationwide travesty of justice. The review.
In other news...
—Murder Mystery 2 trailer: Adam Sandler, Jennifer Aniston fight for their lives after worst wedding ever
—RTL-Talpa merger dropped amid anti-trust concerns
—Quinta Brunson to host Billboard Women in Music Awards
—Sony veteran Martin Bachmann joins Constantin Film executive board
—Thomas Coesfeld to become BMG CEO in 2024
—Sabato De Sarno named new creative director of Gucci
—Bel Air’s 260-acre spread, representing 6 percent of neighborhood, goes to auction
—Exercising while stoned: I tried a cannabis workout class
—West Hollywood’s haute cannabis hangouts
—Barrett Strong, “Money” singer who wrote Motown hits including “I Heard It Through the Grapevine,” dies at 81
What else we're reading...
—James Gallagher looks at whether a The Last of Us type fungal pandemic could really turn us all into zombies [BBC]
—Rachel Handler digs deep and attempts to make sense of the Jennifer Lopez wedding industrial-complex canon [Vulture]
—Sarah Krouse reports that a new tool on Netflix will show you where and when your account has been used, and also lets you boot off the moochers [WSJ]
—Katy Waldman writes that the film and television adaptations of Elena Ferrante’s novels never come close to the experience of reading her work [New Yorker]
—Rebecca Heilweil tries to answer the question of why Teslas keep catching on fire [Vox]
Today...
Today's birthdays: Olivia Colman (49), Christian Bale (49), Gene Hackman (93), Vanessa Redgrave (86), Ann Dowd (67), Phil Collins (72), Kid Cudi (39), Wilmer Valderrama (43), Eiza González (33), Kylie Bunbury (34), Brett Butler (65), Charles S. Dutton (72), Danielle Campbell (28), Darren Boyd (52), Daniel di Tomasso (40), Jordan Prentice (50), Mary Hollis Inboden (37), Josh Kelley (43), Lena Hall (43), Steven Zaillian (70), Amelia Dimoldenberg (29) |
| Tom Verlaine, the frontman of the band Television, which heavily influenced the New York punk rock scene in the 1970s, has died. He was 73. The obituary. |
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