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☆ 'Avatar 2' dethrones 'Top Gun: Maverick' to become 2022's biggest movie in the world
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Travis Clark | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

"Avatar: The Way of Water" passed "Top Gun: Maverick" at the global box office. But "Maverick" is still the top movie at the US box office for the year. The director's long-awaited "Avatar" followup, "Avatar: The Way of Water," became 2022's biggest movie at the global box office on Wednesday, with $1.5 billion. That's a rare occurrence at the box office these days, where big-budget tentpoles often see big significant drops week to week. The first "Avatar" is the biggest movie of all time, with $2.9 billion at the global box office.

Mike Hodges, the British filmmaker who directed the hard-boiled gangster saga "Get Carter" and the campy space opera "Flash Gordon," died Saturday, according to his friend Mike Kaplan. "My middle-class eyes were forced to witness horrendous poverty and deprivation that I was previously unaware of," Hodges wrote in a letter published in The Guardian in May. "Get Carter" quickly entered the pantheon of British film classics. He replaced the acclaimed British director Nicolas Roeg ("Walkabout") on "Flash Gordon," a goofy project that has since attracted a cult following. I think that as a young man I probably did."

☆ 'Avatar: The Way of Water' review roundup: See it on the biggest screen possible, critics say
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Sarah Whitten | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

"The Way of Water" follows Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) who are now the parents of four Na'vi children. Read more: "Avatar: The Way of Water" could be headed for a $175 million opening weekend Critics are adamant that audiences should watch "The Way of Water" on the biggest screen possible, lauding the film for its you-won't-believe-this-is-computer-generated visuals and bombastic sound design. Here's what critics thought of "Avatar: The Way of Water" before its Friday release. Avatar: The Way of Water Courtesy: Disney Co.Ma did note that "The Way of Water" is "jaw-droppingly beautiful," likening it to watching a David Attenborough documentary rather than a CGI feature. Avatar: The Way of Water Courtesy Disney Co.Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

☆ Analysis: Out of fashion: Gucci faces daunting task to replace top designer
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( Mimosa Spencer | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

[1/4] Gucci's designer Alessandro Michele arrives at the "Green carpet Fashion Awards" event during the Milan Fashion Week in Milan, Italy, September 24, 2017. Tensions had been high between the designer and company management, sources told Reuters. Kering chairman and CEO François-Henri Pinault lauded the designer's tenure as "an outstanding moment" in Gucci's history. Gucci falls out of fashionFURRY LOAFERSMichele, 49, reinvigorated the brand with his eccentric, gender-fluid styles popular with younger shoppers. China generates around 35% of Gucci's annual sales, according to Barclays estimates, compared to 27% for LVMH's fashion and leather goods division and 26% for Hermes.

☆ Simu Liu says Tarantino's era in film was 'white as hell' after the director's anti-Marvel comments
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-23 | by ( Sakshi Venkatraman | Sakshi Venkatraman Is A Reporter For Nbc Asian America. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

Simu Liu is speaking up after director Quentin Tarantino criticized the "Marvel-ization of Hollywood," saying on a podcast that those who became famous through the superhero franchise are not real movie stars. "If the only gatekeepers to movie stardom came from Tarantino and Scorsese, I would never have had the opportunity to lead a $400 million plus movie," Liu tweeted, referring to Hollywood director Martin Scorsese. The actor also said Tarantino's "Golden Age" of cinema was "white as hell." “Part of the Marvel-ization of Hollywood is … you have all these actors who have become famous playing these characters, but they’re not movie stars. Thor is the star ... It’s these franchise characters that become the star.”Simu Liu in "Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings."

☆ 3 senators call for DOJ to potentially unwind the Ticketmaster and Live Nation merger: 'High prices and labyrinth-like ticketing process for Taylor Swift's Eras tour are clear examples of the harms co
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( Juliana Kaplan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

"The high prices and labyrinth-like ticketing process for Taylor Swift's Eras tour are clear examples of the harms consumers face in an anti-competitive ticketing market," the senators write. Live Nation Entertainment has said that it "does not engage in behaviors that could justify antitrust litigation, let alone orders that would require it to alter fundamental business practices." The DOJ and Live Nation Entertainment did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment on the letter. UMAW is also pushing for the merger between Live Nation and Ticketmaster to be unwound. Put simply, artists, venues, and consumers should no longer be at the mercy of a single seller."

☆ Russia keeps mum on CIA director's warning over nuclear weapons
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Guy Faulconbridge | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] CIA Director William Burns speaks during a House Intelligence Committee hearing on worldwide threats, in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 15, 2021. Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns warned Sergei Naryshkin, head of Russia's SVR foreign intelligence service, about the consequences of any use of nuclear weapons, a White House official said. It was the first known high-level, face-to-face U.S.-Russian contact since Russia invaded Ukraine in February. Zelenskiy said the CIA director had spent time in a bomb shelter before the two men met amid Russian missile strikes. Putin has said Russia will defend its territory with all available means, including nuclear weapons, if attacked.

☆ The head of the CIA met with Putin's spy chief to warn Moscow against using a nuke in Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( John Haltiwanger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

CIA director William Burns warned Putin's spy chief against the use of a nuclear weapon in Ukraine. Burns, a former US ambassador to Russia, met with his Russian counterpart in Ankara on Monday. Burns previously warned that Putin could use a nuke in Ukraine if he feels desperate enough. In April, Burns warned that Putin could use a nuclear weapon in Ukraine if he feels desperate enough. Since those remarks, Russia's fortunes in Ukraine have turned from bad to worse, with Russian forces losing ground to major Ukrainian counteroffensives.

☆ I worked on Netflix's 'The Jeffrey Dahmer Story' and the experience was so bad it broke me. The aftermath proved there are no safe spaces for Black women to talk about Hollywood.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( Eboni Boykin-Patterson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

It's not always easy being a Black crew member on a major production, because you'll often be one of the few. But the worst experience I ever had as a Black woman on a production was "Dahmer." The experience I had was tied in with the lack of diversity within the crew: Black crew members did not last long on this show. Black people — Black women specifically — have it hard enough already. Editor's note: Netflix declined to comment on human resource matters between employees and the number of Black crew members on this production.

☆ 'Avatar' director James Cameron once threw out a 130-page script for a sequel: 'It was missing one of those critical elements'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( Nicolas Vega | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

We kept trying to corral it into a box and it never quite fit," Cameron said in the December issue. Indeed, the 68-year-old revealed in a recent interview with Total Film magazine that he scrapped a full script for an early version of 'Avatar 2'. Thirteen years after the original "Avatar" burst into theaters and became the highest-grossing film ever made, James Cameron is finally delivering the first of four planned sequels next month. Cameron said that the script "was missing one of those critical elements about sequels, which is that it didn't go enough into the unexpected." Cameron also felt that the script didn't connect to the "spiritual component" of the world of "Avatar".

☆ DC's new movie boss says he's focused on 'hammering out the new DCU' and 'telling the biggest story ever told' in response to fan requests
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Travis Clark | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

James Gunn, the co-CEO of DC Studios, said that he is focused on "hammering out the new DCU." He seemed to shoot down the possibility of a director's cut for David Ayer's "Suicide Squad." Gunn and Peter Safran are leading DC's new movie and TV efforts. Gunn, who's leading DC's movie, TV, and animation efforts with producer Peter Safran, said it's important to acknowledge fans but that he's focused on the future. The most recent DC movie, "Black Adam," hinted at the franchise's future with a cameo by Henry Cavill reprising his role as Superman, but it hasn't yet proven to be a smash hit.

☆ Fact Check-Video does not show Elon Musk firing Twitter exec on live radio show
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

A widely shared video appears to capture Elon Musk firing former legal affairs and policy chief Vijaya Gadde during a live radio show. One post reads, in part, “Elon Musk fires Twitter's Chief Legal Officer and Policy Chief Vijaya Gadde ON AIR!” (here). Reuters reported on Friday that Musk fired Twitter Chief Executive Parag Agrawal, Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal and legal affairs and policy chief Vijaya Gadde, according to people familiar with the matter (here). Reuters was unable to identify the exact origin of the following phrase attributed to Musk in the parody video: "Failure comes with a big penalty, you're fired." Elon Musk did not fire a Twitter executive during a live radio show.

☆ Audiences are still discovering John Carpenter's cult classic 'Prince of Darkness' 35 years later
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-29 | by ( Mike Calia | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

John Carpenter is the king of Halloween. A lucrative new trilogy of "Halloween" sequels to his 1978 original just wrapped up with "Halloween Ends," which Carpenter helped score and executive produce. But this year, one of Carpenter's more obscure movies, "Prince of Darkness," which teems with insects and metaphysical dread, is having a moment and finding new audiences. The movie's 35th anniversary was just last weekend, in the heart of the peak time for scary movies. That's quite a turnaround for "Prince of Darkness," which critics panned when it was released in 1987.

☆ 'Black Adam' wants to be a Marvel movie, but can't leave the Snyder era behind — and it highlights the mess that DC Studios' new bosses will have to sort out
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( Travis Clark | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

There are a lot of Snyder-esque moments in "Black Adam," particularly when it comes to slo-mo action sequences and an overall somber tone. Johnson's Black Adam is a serious-faced anti-hero who isn't afraid to kill a lot of people. "Black Adam" is the perfect encapsulation of both the last nearly decade of DC movies and what the franchise wants to be in the future. For all of its troubles, the DC movie universe had at least seemed to be course correcting. The director, Jaume Collet-Serra, doesn't so much as put his personal touch on it as borrow familiar touches from past Snyder-directed DC movies.

☆ I run an 8-figure biscuit business that started as a side gig. Here's how I caught the attention of major distributors like Whole Foods and Costco.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( Kimanzi Constable | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Ayeshah Abuelhiga, 36, started selling biscuits in 2014 as a side hustle while consulting full time. A customer asked if she would consider selling frozen dough so they could bake the biscuits at home. The day after, I drove a big ice chest filled with frozen biscuits to the stall before work. Two hours later, I got a call from my chef asking whether we had more frozen biscuits at the off-site kitchen because we had sold out. The company turned over eight figures last year, and Target, Publix, Safeway, Costco, and Aldi all stock our frozen biscuits.

Oct 18 (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) workers have so far voted 150 to 76 against forming a union at their upstate-New York warehouse, with more ballots to be counted as of Tuesday morning. At ALB1, the retailer's fulfillment center in Castleton-on-Hudson, employees had the chance to decide whether to join the Amazon Labor Union in the company's fourth union election of the year. The longer-established Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union also was unable to organize an Amazon warehouse in Alabama this year, though that result is not yet final. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterThe ALU is now managing the fourth Amazon union vote count of 2022 after tackling various challenges. More than 50% of voting Amazon workers would have to opt to join the ALU for the upstate-New York facility to unionize.

☆ Amazon workers' ballots to be counted Tuesday in retailer's 4th union vote this year
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-18 | by ( Jeffrey Dastin | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

At ALB1, the retailer's fulfillment center in Castleton-on-Hudson, hundreds of employees had the chance to decide whether to join the Amazon Labor Union. The longer-established Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union also was unable to organize an Amazon warehouse in Alabama this year, though that result is not yet final. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterThe ALU is now heading in to the fourth Amazon union vote count this year after tackling various challenges. Just this month, it petitioned to hold a union vote in an Amazon warehouse in Southern California, and it backed a staff protest of work conditions in Staten Island following a fire; Amazon suspended some workers afterward. A simple majority of valid ballots submitted by Amazon workers will determine if the upstate-New York facility unionizes.

☆ The U.S. and China need to resume talks over Taiwan — away from the public eye, says think tank
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-30 | by ( Charmaine Jacob | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

The United States and China need to reopen dialogue over the Taiwan issue — but such a conversation should take place discreetly, an analyst said. Cross-strait tensions between China and Taiwan have become "increasingly dangerous" ever since U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's Taiwan visit in early August, he added. On top of that, China announced in the same month that it had shelved military and climate talks with the United States. Taiwan is a self-ruled democracy, but Beijing considers the island part of its territory and a breakaway province. "The Chinese have pulled down the dialogue in the aftermath of Pelosi's visit.

☆ Performance evaluations at Amazon are so predatory and opaque, they drove me to quit. Here's how I navigated the worst weeks of my career.
▼ + stars: | 2022-01-20 | by ( Patrick Mcgah | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

The system is so opaque it took reporters from The Seattle Times and Insider for actual Amazon employees to find out what it entails. The first rule of Focus is: You do not talk about FocusIn February, after my team's performance evaluations, my manager told me I'd been rated as a low performer. He told me the company policy is not to inform employees they are on Focus unless they ask directly. My manager didn't agree with the decision, but the director of engineering had the final say. A spokesperson for Amazon said the company regularly reviews performance ratings and other people processes to ensure they are fair and effective.

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