Chloe Zhao followed up Nomadland with a Marvel tentpole. Greta Gerwig is about to release Barbie. Barry Jenkins is directing ... a Lion King sequel?! Studios used to have more on offer. "Now this is all there is: franchise content, continuing endlessly until the heat death of the universe." - Irish Times
A crayon drawing, maybe. "Vietnamese censors have banned or altered several other movies that showed disputed areas as being under Beijing’s control. The list includes Crazy Rich Asians (2018), Abominable (2019) and Uncharted (2022), among others."- The New York Times
Why did this take so long? Blame the GOP. "In 1997 Michigan Republican Congressman Pete Hoekstra derided The Watermelon Woman as 'possibly pornographic.' ... He decried that the film had been funded by taxpayers." - NPR
For most of the world, silent films died out in the 1930s. But in Brussels, the Cinematek — the only remaining cinema in the world with a regular schedule of silent films (along with live piano accompaniment) — is thriving. - The World
"Threads, the latest of Meta's copycat innovations, faces a long slog in its bid to topple Twitter as the microblogging platform of choice. … But Threads comes with big potential, thanks to its polished tech, built-in user base, and a reputation for better moderation that's likely to please big-money advertisers." - Wired
In a flurry of unexpected strategic decisions, holiday news dumps and pure opportunism, the social landscape suddenly looks up for grabs (at least for a certain type of platform), and its future remains unwritten. - The Hollywood Reporter
"For decades after The Joy Luck Club, the handful of movies with Asian-American casts mostly offered family-centric stories filled with generational hardship, sacrifice and culture clash. But now … audiences are finally getting to see all dimensions of the Asian-American experience — even the weird, bad and raunchy parts." - The New York Times
"Threads is billed as a text-based version of Meta's photo-sharing app Instagram that the company says provides 'a new, separate space for real-time updates and public conversations.' It went live late Wednesday in Apple and Google Android app stores." - AP
"The first strand will focus on (RTÉ's) governance and culture. A second review will examine contractor fees, human resources and other matters. … The announcement comes amid ongoing controversy about substantial undeclared payments that had been made to former presenter Ryan Tubridy." - BBC
The film, reportedly budgeted north of $250 million, came in on the lower end of projections with $60 million in ticket sales from 4,600 North American theaters, according to studio estimates Sunday. - Baltimore Sun
I was part of an Australian research team that wanted to understand how Google and Meta were able to have such different responses to the code. We examined policy documents and interviewed news media executives about their experience of negotiating with the platforms. What we found wasn’t all good news for journalism. - The Conversation
This phenomenon is because, well, the podcasts about The Bachelor are better than The Bachelor (and other shows), basically. Or in host language, "The recap podcasts are kind of the spice on an otherwise not very well-seasoned fish, which is the franchise." - Time
With its on-screen nudity, "this self-consciously retro film is also a modest step forward. Lawrence’s nude scene in No Hard Feelings is funny in a way that only male movie stars’ nudity gets to be: It’s goofy, un-self-conscious, and has nothing to do with sex." - Vulture
Well this seems, in internet parlance, fine: "Horne’s departure comes as Warner Bros. Discovery scales back its socially responsible spending efforts, according to people with knowledge of the programs who were not authorized to comment." - Los Angeles Times
Social media has apparently turned marketing for the hyped movie Barbie into ... marketing for the grim movie Oppenheimer? "It's the dual movie experience no one knew they needed until now, but more and more people are getting on board" with Barbenheimer. - IGN
