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☆ The Dystopian ‘Civil War’ Reaches No. 1 at the Box Office
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-14 | by ( Brooks Barnes | More About Brooks Barnes | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Hollywood executives — not all, but most — have insisted for years that uncomfortable, thought-provoking, original movies can no longer attract big audiences at the box office. Alex Garland’s dystopian “Civil War,” set in a near-immediate future when the United States is at war with itself, sold an estimated $25.7 million in tickets at North American theaters, enough to make the film a strong No. 1, surpassing the monsters sequel “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire.” Ticket sales for “Civil War” exceeded the prerelease expectations of some box office analysts by roughly 30 percent. IMAX screenings provided nearly 50 percent of the “Civil War” gross. “Civil War,” starring Kirsten Dunst as a journalist on a military embed, became the latest example of ticket buyers breaking with Hollywood’s conventional wisdom about what types of films are likely to pop at the box office.

Persons: —, Alex Garland’s, ”, Kirsten Dunst, Christopher Nolan’s “ Oppenheimer Organizations: North, “ Locations: United States

☆ Opinion: These three Oscar-nominated films couldn’t be more different. Together, they represent the change we need
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-07 | by ( Opinion Noah Berlatsky | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

All three films question male conventions and genres in ways that show exactly why we need more films by, and more nominations for, women-directed films. Les Films PelléasTriet’s “Anatomy of a Fall” is about a German novelist, Sandra (Sandra Hüller), accused of murdering her husband Samuel (Samuel Theis). Director Celine Song talks to lead actress Greta Lee on the set of "Past Lives." That doesn’t mean that women directors are less interesting or less original than male directors. Triet, Song and Gerwig have proved that women directors are uniquely positioned to question and rethink old genres, old stories and old ideas.

Persons: Noah Berlatsky, — Justine Triet’s “, Celine Song’s “, Greta Gerwig’s “, ” —, Noah Berlatsky Noah Berlatsky, it’s, Randa Haines, ”, —, Sandra Hüller, Justine Triet's, Pelléas, Sandra, Samuel, Samuel Theis, Billy Wilder’s, David Fincher’s, Triet, Nora Moon, Greta Lee, Hae Sung, Teo Yoo, Nora, Arthur, John Magaro, Celine Song, doesn’t, Gerwig, “ Barbie, “ Barbie ”, Barbie, Ken, Greta Gerwig, Margot Robbie, Jaap Buitendijk, Barbie ”, Bradley Cooper’s, Maestro ”, Christopher Nolan’s “ Oppenheimer, clichés, Alexander Payne’s “, Kelly Reichardt’s, Nida Organizations: CNN, USC, Initiative, Academy, New York Times, Everett, Warner Bros ., Warner Bros, Entertainment, ” Locations: Chicago, German, South Korea

Clarkson about “Madame Web” was that this was a superhero who did not have superhuman strength. Clarkson had long admired Dakota Johnson as an actor and was thrilled to get the chance to direct her. “It was important to me that we didn’t sort of, like, take ourselves too seriously. It really was a bit like clairvoyance for her in that she didn’t actually get to see it,” Clarkson said. But for Johnson and Clarkson, the ultimate goal to was to create something fresh.

Persons: S.J, Clarkson, ”, couldn’t, Cassandra Webb, ” Clarkson, Nicolas Roeg’s “, ” Christopher Nolan’s, “, Venom, Morbius, Dakota Johnson, she’s, ” Johnson, Johnson, It’s, didn’t, Sydney Sweeney, “ Dexter, Netflix’s, she’d, Marvel’s “ Jessica Jones, ” She’s, Marvel, Madame Web’s, Denny O’Neil, John Romita Jr, that’s Organizations: ANGELES, Associated Press, ”

Time isn’t inverting: Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet” is coming back to movie theaters for a week in IMAX 70mm and on other large-format screens. The limited re-release of Nolan’s mind-bender starring John David Washington will begin on Feb. 23, Warner Bros. The showings will also feature new footage from Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune: Part Two,” which opens a week later on March 1. “On ‘Dune,’ we shot several sequences for IMAX, and I simply loved it, so for ‘Dune: Part Two,’ we pushed it to 100 percent of the movie,” Villeneuve said in a statement. “I am just as eager to see ‘Tenet’ again, but now in 70mm IMAX, the way they filmed it, to fully appreciate his vision for this incredible film,” Villeneuve added.

Persons: Christopher Nolan’s “ Tenet ”, bender, John David Washington, Denis Villeneuve’s “, ‘ Oppenheimer, ’ I’m, Warner, ‘ Tenet, ” Nolan, “ I’m, Denis ’, ’, “ Tenet ”, Villeneuve, Nolan, “ Oppenheimer, ”, ” Villeneuve, “ Tenet, “, ‘ Tenet ’ Organizations: Warner Bros, Discovery, Universal, AMC Locations: New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco

It’s been a wonderful year at the movies for cinephiles, but what do you get for the film lover who has seen everything already? There are inspiration boards, script pages with handwritten annotations, correspondence with collaborators, as well as personal introductions to each film. They even have a section where you can choose films based on running time: Only have 90 minutes or less? Another special feature looks at the development of black and white 65mm film stock they pioneered for the film. Because this license plate has serious movie cred.’” It’s easily google-able, but we won’t spoil it here.

Persons: It’s, Barbie, Sofia Coppola, “ Sofia Coppola, Coppola, “ Priscilla, ”, she’s, Kirsten Dunst, Bill Murray, Tomasz Ruminski, Leszek Żebrowski ’, Andrzej Krajewski ’, thoughtfully, Parker Posey, Ozu, Ousmane Sembène, “ Hitchcock, Christopher Nolan’s “ Oppenheimer ”, Nolan, Kai Bird, Kip Thorne, Matt Singer, Roger Ebert, Gene Siskel, Siskel, Ebert, Singer, “, Samuel L, Jackson, Cillian Murphy, Jason Momoa, Steven Soderbergh, it’s, Joanna Bush, Soderbergh, ” It’s Organizations: Sundance Film, Criterion, ”, Teamsters, NICE Locations: “, Park City , Utah, Chicago

LOS ALAMOS, N.M. (AP) — Los Alamos was the perfect spot for the U.S. government’s top-secret Manhattan Project. The community is facing growing pains again, 80 years later, as Los Alamos National Laboratory takes part in the nation's most ambitious nuclear weapons effort since World War II. The mission calls for modernizing the arsenal with droves of new workers producing plutonium cores — key components for nuclear weapons. Alexandra Martinez, 40, grew up in nearby Chimayo and is the latest in her family to work at Los Alamos. Some of the hand-written notes touch on the complicated legacy left by the creation of nuclear weapons.

Persons: James Owen, Owen, Alamosans, ” Greg Mello, Alexandra Martinez, chuckles, ”, Martinez, J, Robert Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan’s “ Oppenheimer, watchdogs, “ What's Organizations: ALAMOS, U.S, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Associated Press, Los Alamos Study, Alamos, PF, Manhattan, —, Trinity Test, Independent Locations: N.M, Los Alamos, Manhattan, New Mexico, Albuquerque, Alamos, Peñasco, Taos County, Chimayo, selfies

☆ Meet Khan Academy's AI tutor
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-21 | by ( Nadia Bidarian | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

More than 8,000 teachers and students will test education nonprofit Khan Academy’s artificial intelligence tutor in the classroom this upcoming school year, toying with its interactive features and funneling feedback to Khan Academy if the AI botches an answer. A conversation between CNN's Nadia Bidarian and Khanmigo, Khan Academy's AI chatbot tutor. Khan Lab School is a separate nonprofit founded by Khan Academy CEO Sal Khan. Khan Academy’s in-the-works AI learning course “AI 101 for Teachers,” created in partnership with Code.org, ETS and the International Society for Technology in Education, offers a path toward AI literacy among teachers. Imperfect, but improvingAn AI “tutor” like Khanmigo is not immune to the flubs all large language models face: so-called hallucinations.

Persons: —, Khanmigo, George Washington, Cleopatra, Martin Luther King Jr, CNN's Nadia Bidarian, Khan, Kristen DiCerbo, she’s, DiCerbo, “, Oz, ” DiCerbo, “ We’re, Albert Einstein, Einstein, Socrates, Christopher Nolan’s “ Oppenheimer, ”, Thomas Jefferson, Khanmigo’s Thomas Jefferson, GPT, Leo Lin, Sal Khan, they’ve, Khan Academy’s, ” Ernest Davis, Davis, it’s, ” Davis, Rama Ramakrishnan, ChatGPT, ” Ramakrishnan, “ It’s Organizations: CNN, Khan Academy, Khan, American, Khan Lab, . New York City Public Schools, Seattle Public Schools, Los Angeles Unified School District, EdWeek Research, Code.org, ETS, International Society for Technology, NYU, MIT Locations: Arizona, Independence, California, . New York, Education, United States

☆ Opinion: Oppenheimer’s not your daddy
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-11 | by ( Opinion Aanchal Saraf | Rebecca H. Hogue | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

Corbis/Getty ImagesScholar Teresia Teaiwa famously critiqued the bikini as instrumental to depoliticizing and concealing the effects of nuclear weapons in the Pacific. Britain and France would later begin their own nuclear weapons programs on Indigenous lands and waters in Australia and French Occupied Polynesia, among others. The US began detonating nuclear bombs at the Nevada Test Site in 1951, garnering nearby Las Vegas the nickname Atomic City. Atomic playboys have aestheticized nuclear weapons as sexy — but still safe — since their very existence. Nolan prolongs the time between the flash and the blast, allowing Oppenheimer’s words to hang in unnerving suspension.

Persons: Rebecca H, Hogue, Barbie ”, “ Oppenheimer, “ Barbie ”, Barbenheimer, Hogue Rebecca H, Baker, ” Rita Hayworth, Gilda, Hayworth, — Jacques Heim’s, Louis Réard, Corbis, Teresia Teaiwa, Lee A, Merlin, SpongeBob, Bert, Turtle, Walt, William Blandy, “, Christopher Nolan’s “ Oppenheimer, Cillian Murphy, Nolan, Oppie, Ernest Lawrence, Josh Hartnett, Jean Tatlock, Florence Pugh, Kitty Oppenheimer, Emily Blunt, Tatlock, Oppenheimer, J, Robert Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan's, Melinda Sue Gordon, Nolan prolongs, “ Gilda, ”, Nolan bifurcates “ Oppenheimer ”, ” “ Oppenheimer, Barbie, Margot Robbie, ’, Ken, Ryan Gosling, —, Barbie’s, Mike ”, Edward Teller, “ It’s, Teller, “ Oppenheimer ” Organizations: Dartmouth College’s Society of Fellows, Mahindra Humanities Center, Harvard University, CNN, Warner Brothers Discovery, Universal, Trinity, Crossroads, Getty, Atomic Energy Commission, US, Las, Atomic, National Atomic Testing, Los, Communist Party, American, Twitter Locations: Pacific, Oceania, New Mexico, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Northern Paiute, Western, Nevada, Amchitka , Alaska, Bikini Atoll, Britain, France, Australia, French, Las Vegas, Las, Playthings, Los Alamos, Japan, American, iconicity, Alamos

☆ ‘Oppenheimer’ surpasses $500 million, sets box office record for highest grossing film set during World War II
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-06 | by ( Eva Rothenberg | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

New York CNN —On the same day “Barbie” passed its billion-dollar box office milestone, the other half of the viral “Barbenheimer” phenomenon blew past the half-billion-dollar mark. Since its release three weeks ago, Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” has made $552.9 million worldwide, according to official estimates from Universal Pictures. It is now the highest grossing R-rated movie of 2023, and “marks the fastest a Universal R-rated film has hit the $200 million threshold domestically,” the studio said in a news release Sunday. It’s also the highest grossing movie set during World War II, according to Universal. The box office numbers are impressive for a three-hour biography about J. Robert Oppenheimer, the Manhattan Project physicist.

Persons: Barbie ”, Christopher Nolan’s “ Oppenheimer ”, It’s, “ Oppenheimer ”, ”, Paul Dergarabedian, J, Robert Oppenheimer, “ ‘ Oppenheimer ’ …, ” “ Oppenheimer Organizations: New, New York CNN, Universal Pictures, Universal, Manhattan Project Locations: New York

☆ ‘Barbenheimer’ is stimulating the economy
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-27 | by ( Matt Egan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Bank of America cardholders increased their non-gasoline spending by 1.9% year over year during the week ending July 22, the bank said Thursday. Bank of America cardholders spent 13.2% more on entertainment than a year ago, easily the most out of any category tracked. That is a significant acceleration from the week of July 15, when entertainment spending was up 4.9%. Earlier in July, entertainment spending was flat to down compared with the year before, according to Bank of America. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell was even asked on Wednesday about how demand for “Barbie” and Taylor Swift concerts is impacting the broader economy.

Persons: New York CNN Business —, Barbie ”, “ Oppenheimer, Bank of America cardholders, Barbie, Oppenheimer, ” “ Barbie ”, Christopher Nolan’s “ Oppenheimer ”, Jerome Powell, “ Barbie ”, Taylor Swift, Powell, ” Powell, ” Organizations: New York CNN Business, Bank of America, CNN, Warner Bros Locations: “

☆ Barbenheimer could be the one-two movie punch that blasts away the superhero smash
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-25 | by ( Parija Kavilanz | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

'Barbie' dominated at the box office, bringing in $155 million in its opening weekend in the US. Fury of the Gods (from Warner Bros.), with $58 million in domestic box office sales since it premiered on March 17. 3” have so far helped the film collect $359 million in box office sales domestically since it premiered on May 5. “The superhero movie is not the novelty that it used to be,” Shawn Robbins, chief analyst with Boxoffice Pro, said in an interview with CNN. 'Oppenheimer' raked in $80.5 million at the box office in its opening weekend in the US.

Persons: New York CNN —, Barbie, Oppenheimer, “, ”, Greta Gerwig’s “ Barbie, Christopher Nolan’s “ Oppenheimer, Robert Oppenheimer, “ Barbie, “ Oppenheimer, ” Shawn Robbins, don’t, Robbins, “ It’s, we’ve, “ Barbie ”, ” Michael O’Leary, ‘ Barbie ’, ‘ Oppenheimer, ’ Organizations: New, New York CNN, Yankee, Yankees, Kansas City Royals, Warner Bros, Pictures, Universal Studios, Warner Bros ., DC, “ Guardians, Boxoffice, CNN, US, Universal, ‘, Galaxy, DC Comics, Marvel, mojo, “, National Association of Theatre Owners Locations: New York, America, New York City, United States

☆ 'Barbie' dominates 'Oppenheimer' opening day, but it's a win for theaters
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-23 | by ( Ramishah Maruf | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

New York CNN —Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” raked in a stunning $155 million domestically over the weekend, giving the film the largest opening weekend of 2023, Comscore said. The combined release of “Barbie” and Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer,” dubbed “Barbenheimer,” has become a pop culture sensation – and one that might revive a struggling movie industry. Coming in behind “Barbie,” “Oppenheimer” opened at $80.5 million domestically over the weekend, according to Comscore. Its closest comparison is “Wonder Woman” in 2017, directed by Patty Jenkins, which raked in about $38 million domestically on opening day, according to Box Office Mojo. That could bring a much needed rebound to the movie industry.

Persons: Greta Gerwig’s “, ”, Comscore, “ Barbie ”, Christopher Nolan’s “ Oppenheimer, “, Paul Dergarabedian, “ Barbie, ” “ Oppenheimer ”, Dergarabedian, ” Dergarabedian, ” It’s, Gabrielle Roitman, Kayla Seffing, Maddy Hiller, Casey Myer, Oppenheimer, Barbie, Chris Pizzello, Patty Jenkins, “ Oppenheimer, It’s, Christopher Nolan, Knight, Mario, Indiana Jones, Destiny ’, ” Sheri Lambert, Mattel, Lambert Organizations: New, New York CNN, AMC, Office, Warner Bros, Warner Bros ., Hollywood Reporter, Mattel, Dunkirk, Mario Bros, Temple University, CNN Locations: New York, Canada, Los Angeles, United States

☆ How to watch the ‘Oppenheimer’ and ‘Barbie’ double feature
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-19 | by ( Scottie Andrew | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

It’s the “Barbenheimer” double feature, and it started its life, as most phenomena do, as a meme. He says he’s seeing “Oppenheimer” first, on its opening Friday, and then “Barbie” “right after” so he gets to experience both with packed houses. Neither “Barbie” nor “Oppenheimer” seem like they’ll be boring, so ahead of both films, use the restroom. Use it again between “Oppenheimer” and “Barbie.” Gerwig’s film is also the more ICEE-friendly film, so re-up on snacks and such in between. 10:50 a.m.: Arrive 10 minutes early for “Oppenheimer,” get an extra-large popcorn and prepare for cinematic annihilation.

Persons: Greta Gerwig’s, Barbie ”, Christopher Nolan’s “, Oppenheimer, ”, Margot Robbie’s Barbie, It’s, “ Barbie ”, ‘, “ Oppenheimer, “ Barbie, Ken, Nicole Kidman’s, Nolan, you’ll, ‘ Oppenheimer, Cillian Murphy, ” can’t, Tom Cruise, Emma Mackey, Simu Liu, Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, —, it’s, you’ve, you’re, celebs, Christopher Nolan, Wes Anderson’s, Florence Pugh, Barbie Organizations: CNN, Warner Bros, Discovery, AMC, Pictures, Universal Locations: cliffhangers, ”, New Mexico

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