GENEVA (AP) — A diamond brooch that French emperor Napoleon lost while fleeing from the Battle of Waterloo in the early 19th century sold for more than 3.5 million Swiss francs (about $4.4 million) at a Geneva auction on Wednesday, Sotheby’s said.
The brooch, which can also be worn as a pendant, features an oval diamond weighing over 13 carats surrounded by smaller cut diamonds. The sale price vastly outstripped the high end of the pre-sale estimate of 200,000 francs.
A Sotheby’s employee displays a green beryl, over 132 carats, which Napoleon was said to have worn at his 1804 coronation, during a preview at Sotheby’s in Geneva, Switzerland, Thursday Nov. 6, 2025. The jewel sold for a hammer price of 838,000 francs. (Martial Trezzini/Keystone via AP)
A Sotheby’s employee displays a green beryl, over 132 carats, which Napoleon was said to have worn at his 1804 coronation, and a diamond brooch once owned by emperor Napoleon, during a preview at Sotheby’s in Geneva, Switzerland, Thursday Nov. 6, 2025. (Martial Trezzini/Keystone via AP)
A Sotheby’s employee displays an old mine-cut diamond brooch or pendant owned by Emperor Napoleon I, circa 1810, during a preview at Sotheby’s in Geneva, Switzerland, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025. (Martial Trezzini/Keystone via AP)
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A Sotheby’s employee displays a green beryl, over 132 carats, which Napoleon was said to have worn at his 1804 coronation, during a preview at Sotheby’s in Geneva, Switzerland, Thursday Nov. 6, 2025. The jewel sold for a hammer price of 838,000 francs. (Martial Trezzini/Keystone via AP)
The hammer price was 2.85 million francs, excluding fees and other charges that were included in the final aggregate price.
The circular jewel was found in a stash of Napoleon’s personal belongings in carriages that got held up on muddy roads as he and his troops fled the Duke of Wellington’s British forces and the Prussian army under Field Marshal von Blücher, Sotheby’s said.
For more than two centuries, the jewels featured as part of heirlooms of the Prussian Royal House of Hohenzollern. Sotheby’s did not disclose the identity of the seller, and said that the buyer was a “private collector.”
Among dozens of lots on the block was a green beryl weighing over 132 carats, which Napoleon was said to have worn at his 1804 coronation. The jewel sold for a hammer price of 838,000 francs, or more than 17 times the high-end pre-sale estimate.
“Given the recent Louvre heist and the provenance of arguably the most famous French figure in history, I’m not surprised the jewel achieved a majestic 3.5 million francs,” said Tobias Kormind, managing director of online jeweler 77 Diamonds. “The brooch arrives at a moment of renewed global fascination with Napoleonic jewels, and its story is irresistible.”
Later Wednesday, Sotheby’s was holding a “high jewelry” auction featuring a 10-carat pink diamond tentatively known as the “Glowing Rose,” which is expected to fetch about $20 million. The stone was unearthed in Angola’s Lulo mine.
Napoleon’s withdrawal from Russia in 1812 was one of history’s most disastrous retreats. New research bolsters the theory that diseases made the calamitous situation even worse.
Researchers in France and Estonia have identified pathogens in the remains of soldiers who retreated from Russia that cause paratyphoid fever and relapsing fever. While the study doesn’t determine how widespread the diseases were, it identifies potential culprits behind the symptoms described in historical records of Napoleon’s army.
“The retreat from Russia spanned from October 19 to December 14 1812 and resulted in the loss of nearly the entire Napoleonic army,” the researchers wrote in a study published Friday in the journal Current Biology. “According to historians, it was not the harassment from the Russian army that claimed the lives of about 300,000 men, but rather the harsh cold of the Russian winter, coupled with hunger and diseases.”
Fever-causing pathogens
The team recovered and sequenced DNA from the teeth of soldiers previously exhumed in Lithuania, who likely died from infectious diseases. Their analysis revealed evidence of two pathogens—a subspecies of Salmonella enterica belonging to the lineage Paratyphi C (S. enterica Paratyphi C), which causes paratyphoid fever; and Borrelia recurrentis, which causes relapsing fever.
The results represent the first genetic evidence of Napoleon’s soldiers being afflicted by these pathogens. Specifically, four of the soldiers tested positive for S. enterica Paratyphi C and two for B. recurrentis. Both diseases can cause high fever, fatigue, and digestive problems, and their symptoms align with those described in historical records of Napoleon’s army. With soldiers already suffering from cold, hunger, and poor hygiene, one can only imagine the state of these men.
Because the researchers only investigated 13 soldiers out of the approximately 300,000 who died during the retreat from Russia, they can’t determine how many deaths these pathogens may have caused. Nonetheless, “the presence of these previously unsuspected pathogens in these soldiers reveal that they could have contributed to the devastation of Napoleon’s Grande Armée during its disastrous retreat in 1812,” the researchers explain.
Modern relevance
Investigating the genomic data of historically relevant pathogens sheds light on the development of infectious diseases, carrying implications for the study of such illnesses today, Nicolás Rascovan, co-author of the study and head of the microbial paleogenomics unit at the Institut Pasteur, explained in a statement by the institute.
Rascovan and his colleagues’ work further bolsters the hypothesis that in addition to stressors such as fatigue, cold, and harsh conditions, infectious diseases contributed to the collapse of Napoleon’s 1812 campaign in Russia. More broadly, the study also offers additional insight into an infamous military failure, one whose historical lessons were largely ignored by Adolf Hitler over a century later during Operation Barbarossa, when his own poorly equipped troops suffered in the freezing Russian cold.
Suspects have been arrested in connection with the theft of crown jewels from Paris’ Louvre museum, the Paris prosecutor said on Sunday, a week after the heist at the world’s most visited museum that stunned the world.The prosecutor said that investigators made the arrests on Saturday evening, adding that one of the men taken into custody was preparing to leave the country from Roissy Airport.French media BFM TV and Le Parisien newspaper earlier reported that two suspects had been arrested and taken into custody. Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau did not confirm the number of arrests and did not say whether jewels had been recovered.Thieves took less than eight minutes to steal jewels valued at 88 million euros ($102 million) last Sunday morning. French officials described how the intruders used a basket lift to scale the Louvre’s façade, forced open a window, smashed display cases and fled. The museum’s director called the incident a “terrible failure.”Beccuau said investigators from a special police unit in charge of armed robberies, serious burglaries and art thefts made the arrests. She rued in her statement the premature leak of information, saying it could hinder the work of over 100 investigators “mobilized to recover the stolen jewels and apprehend all of the perpetrators.” Beccuau said further details will be unveiled after the suspects’ custody period ends.French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez praised “the investigators who have worked tirelessly, just as I asked them to, and who have always had my full confidence.”The Louvre reopened earlier this week after one of the highest-profile museum thefts of the century stunned the world with its audacity and scale.The thieves slipped in and out, making off with parts of France’s Crown Jewels — a cultural wound that some compared to the burning of Notre Dame Cathedral in 2019.The thieves made away with a total of eight objects, including a sapphire diadem, necklace and single earring from a set linked to 19th-century queens Marie-Amélie and Hortense.They also took an emerald necklace and earrings tied to Empress Marie-Louise, Napoleon Bonaparte’s second wife, as well as a reliquary brooch. Empress Eugénie’s diamond diadem and her large corsage-bow brooch — an imperial ensemble of rare craftsmanship — were also part of the loot.One piece — Eugénie’s emerald-set imperial crown with more than 1,300 diamonds — was later found outside the museum, damaged but recoverable.
PARIS —
Suspects have been arrested in connection with the theft of crown jewels from Paris’ Louvre museum, the Paris prosecutor said on Sunday, a week after the heist at the world’s most visited museum that stunned the world.
The prosecutor said that investigators made the arrests on Saturday evening, adding that one of the men taken into custody was preparing to leave the country from Roissy Airport.
French media BFM TV and Le Parisien newspaper earlier reported that two suspects had been arrested and taken into custody. Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau did not confirm the number of arrests and did not say whether jewels had been recovered.
Thieves took less than eight minutes to steal jewels valued at 88 million euros ($102 million) last Sunday morning. French officials described how the intruders used a basket lift to scale the Louvre’s façade, forced open a window, smashed display cases and fled. The museum’s director called the incident a “terrible failure.”
Beccuau said investigators from a special police unit in charge of armed robberies, serious burglaries and art thefts made the arrests. She rued in her statement the premature leak of information, saying it could hinder the work of over 100 investigators “mobilized to recover the stolen jewels and apprehend all of the perpetrators.” Beccuau said further details will be unveiled after the suspects’ custody period ends.
French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez praised “the investigators who have worked tirelessly, just as I asked them to, and who have always had my full confidence.”
The Louvre reopened earlier this week after one of the highest-profile museum thefts of the century stunned the world with its audacity and scale.
The thieves slipped in and out, making off with parts of France’s Crown Jewels — a cultural wound that some compared to the burning of Notre Dame Cathedral in 2019.
The thieves made away with a total of eight objects, including a sapphire diadem, necklace and single earring from a set linked to 19th-century queens Marie-Amélie and Hortense.
They also took an emerald necklace and earrings tied to Empress Marie-Louise, Napoleon Bonaparte’s second wife, as well as a reliquary brooch. Empress Eugénie’s diamond diadem and her large corsage-bow brooch — an imperial ensemble of rare craftsmanship — were also part of the loot.
One piece — Eugénie’s emerald-set imperial crown with more than 1,300 diamonds — was later found outside the museum, damaged but recoverable.
Suspects have been arrested in connection with the theft of crown jewels from Paris’ Louvre museum, the Paris prosecutor said on Sunday, a week after the heist at the world’s most visited museum that stunned the world.The prosecutor said that investigators made the arrests on Saturday evening, adding that one of the men taken into custody was preparing to leave the country from Roissy Airport.French media BFM TV and Le Parisien newspaper earlier reported that two suspects had been arrested and taken into custody. Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau did not confirm the number of arrests and did not say whether jewels had been recovered.Thieves took less than eight minutes to steal jewels valued at 88 million euros ($102 million) last Sunday morning. French officials described how the intruders used a basket lift to scale the Louvre’s façade, forced open a window, smashed display cases and fled. The museum’s director called the incident a “terrible failure.”Beccuau said investigators from a special police unit in charge of armed robberies, serious burglaries and art thefts made the arrests. She rued in her statement the premature leak of information, saying it could hinder the work of over 100 investigators “mobilized to recover the stolen jewels and apprehend all of the perpetrators.” Beccuau said further details will be unveiled after the suspects’ custody period ends.French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez praised “the investigators who have worked tirelessly, just as I asked them to, and who have always had my full confidence.”The Louvre reopened earlier this week after one of the highest-profile museum thefts of the century stunned the world with its audacity and scale.The thieves slipped in and out, making off with parts of France’s Crown Jewels — a cultural wound that some compared to the burning of Notre Dame Cathedral in 2019.The thieves made away with a total of eight objects, including a sapphire diadem, necklace and single earring from a set linked to 19th-century queens Marie-Amélie and Hortense.They also took an emerald necklace and earrings tied to Empress Marie-Louise, Napoleon Bonaparte’s second wife, as well as a reliquary brooch. Empress Eugénie’s diamond diadem and her large corsage-bow brooch — an imperial ensemble of rare craftsmanship — were also part of the loot.One piece — Eugénie’s emerald-set imperial crown with more than 1,300 diamonds — was later found outside the museum, damaged but recoverable.
PARIS —
Suspects have been arrested in connection with the theft of crown jewels from Paris’ Louvre museum, the Paris prosecutor said on Sunday, a week after the heist at the world’s most visited museum that stunned the world.
The prosecutor said that investigators made the arrests on Saturday evening, adding that one of the men taken into custody was preparing to leave the country from Roissy Airport.
French media BFM TV and Le Parisien newspaper earlier reported that two suspects had been arrested and taken into custody. Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau did not confirm the number of arrests and did not say whether jewels had been recovered.
Thieves took less than eight minutes to steal jewels valued at 88 million euros ($102 million) last Sunday morning. French officials described how the intruders used a basket lift to scale the Louvre’s façade, forced open a window, smashed display cases and fled. The museum’s director called the incident a “terrible failure.”
Beccuau said investigators from a special police unit in charge of armed robberies, serious burglaries and art thefts made the arrests. She rued in her statement the premature leak of information, saying it could hinder the work of over 100 investigators “mobilized to recover the stolen jewels and apprehend all of the perpetrators.” Beccuau said further details will be unveiled after the suspects’ custody period ends.
French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez praised “the investigators who have worked tirelessly, just as I asked them to, and who have always had my full confidence.”
The Louvre reopened earlier this week after one of the highest-profile museum thefts of the century stunned the world with its audacity and scale.
The thieves slipped in and out, making off with parts of France’s Crown Jewels — a cultural wound that some compared to the burning of Notre Dame Cathedral in 2019.
The thieves made away with a total of eight objects, including a sapphire diadem, necklace and single earring from a set linked to 19th-century queens Marie-Amélie and Hortense.
They also took an emerald necklace and earrings tied to Empress Marie-Louise, Napoleon Bonaparte’s second wife, as well as a reliquary brooch. Empress Eugénie’s diamond diadem and her large corsage-bow brooch — an imperial ensemble of rare craftsmanship — were also part of the loot.
One piece — Eugénie’s emerald-set imperial crown with more than 1,300 diamonds — was later found outside the museum, damaged but recoverable.
I drove out to Pennsylvania’s rural Amish country to see a man about a wagon. I was looking to nail down the answer to a question I’ve had since 2015 when I traveled to England on a work trip.
Back when I was motoring through London, very carefully, in a Mini Cooper, I wondered: Why was I driving on the “wrong” side of the road? I’m from the United States, which started as a bunch of former British colonies. We speak the same language, more or less. But we drive on opposite sides, sometimes with hazardous effects.
And the United Kingdom isn’t the only country, of course, to do it the other way. It turns out that about 30% of the world’s countries mandate left-side driving and another 70% or so stay to the right. How it got that way is a winding tale.
In Europe, Napoleon played a central role. In the US, Henry Ford often gets the credit, but that’s actually wrong. It goes much further back than Ford. Not only does traffic on the right pre-date cars, it pre-dates the establishment of the United States.
That’s how I ended up in a former tobacco drying barn in Conestoga, Pennsylvania, looking at a wagon – only a few days after I test-drove a Tesla Cybertruck, its modern electric descendant. John Stehman, whose family has farmed land in the area since 1743, met me. He’s president of the Conestoga Area Historical Society, and, as I had learned from research on the history of roads and driving, the Conestoga wagon was key to this whole story.
Wagon trains
These big wagons, with their tall, arched cloth roofs, became icons of America’s westward expansion as they carried the belongings of pioneers from the east out to the frontier. Back in the early 1700s, though, western Pennsylvania was the distant frontier.
Conestoga wagons were developed by local carpenters and blacksmiths to carry goods, including farm produce and items bartered from Native Americans, to markets in Philadelphia. Philadelphia was, at the time, one of the biggest cities in the colonies. The wagon driver could ride one of the horses or sit on a “lazy board” that slid out of the side of the wagon. But when more active control was needed, he walked alongside the horses, pulling levers and ropes.
An original 19th century Conestoga wagon at the Conestoga Area Historical Society in Conestoga, Pennsylvania in 2024. – Peter Valdes-Dapena/CNN
“He would give the verbal command, ‘Gee’, ‘Haul,’ or whatever, and they would hear that,” Stehman said. “He would also maybe tug on this [leather “jerk line”] once or twice.”
I imagined myself walking down a long dusty trail leading a team of horses pulling this blue-painted wagon. I’m right-handed, like most people. For just that reason, Conestoga wagons had the controls on the left side, close to the wagon driver’s right hand. That meant the driver was toward the middle of the road and the wagon to the right.
Eventually, there was so much trade and traffic between Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and Philadelphia that America’s first major highway was created. The Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike Road opened in 1795. Among the rules written into its charter, according the book “Ways of the World ” by M.G. Lay, was that all traffic had to stay to the right – just like the Conestoga wagons did.
In 1804, New York became the first state to dictate traffic stay to the right on all roads and highways.
A Model T Ford in 1915. – Three Lions/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Some people credit Henry Ford with standardizing US traffic on the right side of the road because, in 1908, Ford Motor Co. put the steering wheel on the left side of the hugely popular Model T. Really, though, Ford was just responding to driving habits that had been largely established long before.
The really weird thing is that most of the rest of Europe, besides Britain, drives on the right like Americans do.
Napoleon’s march through Europe
Why are the British outliers even on their own continent? Credit, or blame, the French.
Coloured engraving depicting pedestrians and carriages on the boulevards of Paris, France, around 1750. – adoc-photos/Corbis/Getty Images
The French revolutionary government under Maximilien Robespierre – best known for leading the late 18th-century “Reign of Terror” in which thousands were guillotined – dictated that everyone should drive on the right.
The left side of the road was, by long cultural convention, reserved for carriages and those on horseback. In other words, the wealthier classes. Pedestrians, i.e. poorer folks, kept to the right. Forcing everyone to the same side of the road, besides being good for traffic, was part of doing away with these snobby class distinctions.
The upper classes likely went along since, in those days, being seen as aristocratic was not only unfashionable, it was rather dangerous. (See above about guillotines.)
A street in Stockholm, Sweden, at 5 am. on September 3, 1967 when cars switched from left to right side driving. – Classic Picture Library/Alamy Stock Photo
The French policy is said to have been spread by Napoleon Bonaparte as his armies marched through Europe. Some evidence for this can be found by looking at a map of the Napoleonic empire in 1812.
There is one nation that was neither a subject or ally of Napoleon. That would be Sweden. Sweden drove on the left, up until one surprisingly uneventful day in 1967 when drivers there switched to the right.
London Bridge in 1872 filled with horses, carriages and pedestrians. As early as 1756, rules were enacted in London to regulate lane traffic. – Guildhall Library & Art Gallery/Heritage Images/Getty Images
Britain, literally, went the other way from France.
Historian Lay’s notion is that it had to do with the different types of conveyance used. There were fewer industrial-sized wagons in Britain, and more small carriages and individual horse riders. Horse riders preferred to stay to the left to keep their right hands toward oncoming traffic for greetings and, if needed, fighting.
William Van Tassel, AAA’s head of driver training, recommends that drivers take extra steps to concentrate when driving on the other side. For one thing, keep the radio off.
“I think it’s fine to talk to yourself, while you’re driving over there. That kind of forces you to be focusing on driving,” he said. “Okay, tight left or far right. Check for traffic from the right rather than the left. Whatever it is, whatever works.”
Pedestrian crossings in London, England, in September 2009. People visiting from other countries might have to remember to look for traffic coming from the opposite direction than they’re accustomed to. Avis gives out bracelets to remind car renters which side to take. – Yevgenia Gorbulsky/Alamy Stock Photo
At Avis Budget Group, which rents lots of cars to Americans driving in the UK, rental agents make sure to remind customers about driving on the left. They take other steps, too.
“In addition, all of our vehicles throughout the UK have ‘Drive on the left’ stickers and in major locations we hand out Drive on the left wristbands, which we advise our customers to always wear on the left wrist as a reminder of which side of the road to drive,” Avis Budget said in a statement.
AAA’s Van Tassel also recommends having a passenger along as another pair of eyes, something that helped me when I was driving there, although I occasionally terrified her.
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It’s that time of year again: Leaders, business titans, philanthropists and celebs descend on the Swiss ski town of Davos to discuss the fate of the world and do deals/shots with the global elite at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum.
This year’s theme: “Rebuilding trust.” Prescient, given the dumpster fire the world seems to be turning into lately, both literally (climate change) and figuratively (where to even begin?).
As always, the Davos great and good will be rubbing shoulders with some of the world’s absolute top-drawer dirtbags. While there’s been a distinct dearth of Russian oligarchs in attendance at the WEF since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and Donald Trump will be tied up with the Iowa caucus, there are still plenty of would-be autocrats, dictators, thugs, extortionists, misery merchants, spoilers and political pariahs on the Davos guest list.
1. Argentine President Javier Milei
Known as the Donald Trump of Argentina — and also as “The Madman” and “The Wig” — the chainsaw-wielding Javier Milei has it all: a fanatical supporter base, background as a TV shock jock, libertarian anarcho-capitalist policies (except when it comes to abortion), and a … memorable … hairdo.
A long-time Davos devotee (he’s been attending the WEF for years), Milei’s libertarian policies have turned from kooky thought bubbles to concerning reality after he was elected president of South America’s second-largest economy, riding a wave of discontent with the political establishment (sound familiar?). The question now is how far Milei will go in delivering on his campaign promises to hack back public service and state spending, close the Argentine central bank and drop the peso.
If you do get stuck talking to Milei in the congress center or on the slopes, here are some conversation starters …
Rumor has it that Mohammed bin Salman will make his first in-person WEF appearance at this year’s event, accompanied by a giant posse of top Saudi officials.
It’s the ultimate redemption arc for the repressive authoritarian ruler of a country with an appalling human rights record — who, according to United States intelligence, personally ordered the brutal assassination of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018.
Rumor has it that Mohammed bin Salman will make his first in-person WEF appearance at this year’s event | Leon Neal/Getty Images
Perhaps MBS would still be a WEF pariah — consigned to rubbing shoulders with mere B-listers at his own Davos in the desert — if it were not for that other one-time Davos-darling-turned-persona-non-grata: Russian President Vladimir Putin. By launching his invasion of Ukraine, which killed thousands of civilians and hundreds of thousands of troops, Putin managed to push the West back into MBS’ embrace. Guess it’s all just oil under the bridge now.
Here’s a piece of free advice: Try to avoid being caught getting a signature MBS fist-bump. Unless, of course, you’re the next person on our list …
3. Jared Kushner, founder of Affinity Partners
Jared Kushner is the closest anyone on the mountain is likely to come to Trump, the former — and possibly future — billionaire baron-cum-anti-elitist president of the United States of America.
On the one hand, a chat with The Donald’s son-in-law in the days just after the Iowa caucus would probably be quite a get for the Davos devotee. On other hand … it’s Jared Kushner.
The 43-year-old, who is married to Ivanka Trump and served as a senior adviser to the former president during his time in office, leveraged his stint in the White House to build up a lucrative consulting career, focused mainly on the Middle East.
Kushner’s private equity firm, Affinity Partners, is largely funded through Gulf countries. That includes a $2 billion investment from the Saudi Public Investment Fund, led by bin Salman — which was, coincidentally, pushed through despite objections by the crown prince’s own advisers.
Kushner struck up a friendship and alliance with MBS during his father-in-law’s term in office, raising major conflict-of-interest suspicions for the Trump administration — especially when the then-U.S. president refused to condemn the Saudi leader in Jamal Khashoggi’s murder, despite the CIA concluding he was directly involved.
Running Azerbaijan is something of a family business for the Aliyevs — Ilham assumed power after the death of his father, Heydar Aliyev, an ex-Soviet KGB officer who ruled the country for decades. And the junior Aliyev changed Azerbaijan’s constitution to pave the path to power for the next generation of his family — and appointed his own wife as vice president to boot.
5. Chinese Premier Li Qiang
Li Qiang is Chinese President Xi Jinping’s ultra-loyal right-hand man, and will represent his boss and his country at the World Economic Forum this year.
Li’s claim to infamy: imposing a brutal lockdown on the entirety of Shanghai for weeks during the coronavirus pandemic, which trapped its 25 million-plus inhabitants at home while many struggled to get food, tend to their animals or seek medical help — and tanking the city’s economy in the process.
Li’s also the guy selling (and whitewashing) China’s Uyghur policy in the Islamic world. In case you need a refresher, China has detained Uyghurs, who are mostly Muslim, in internment camps in the northwest region of Xinjiang, where there have been allegations of torture, slavery, forced sterilization, sexual abuse and brainwashing. China’s actions have been branded genocide by the U.S. State Department, and as potential crimes against humanity by the United Nations.
Li Qiang will represent his boss and his country at the World Economic Forum this year | Johannes Simon/Getty Images
Nicknamed “the Napoleon of Africa” in a nod to his campaign to seize power in 1994, Paul Kagame has ruled over the land of a thousand hills since. He’s often praised for overseeing what is probably the greatest development success story of modern Africa; he’s also a dictator.
Forced from office in 2018 by mass protests following the murder of investigative journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kušnírová, Fico rose from the political ashes to become Slovakian prime minister for the fourth time late last year. His Smer party ran a Putin-friendly campaign, pledging to end all military support for Ukraine.
Slovakian courts are still working through multiple organized crime cases stemming from the last time Smer was in power, involving oligarchs alleged to have profited from state contracts; former top police brass and senior military intelligence officers; and parliamentarians from all three parties in Fico’s new coalition government.
8. President of Hungary Katalin Novák
Katalin Novák, elected Hungarian president in 2022, must’ve pulled the short straw: she’s been sent to Davos to fly the flag for the EU’s pariah state. Luckily, the 46-year-old is used to being the odd one out at a shindig: She’s both the first woman and the youngest-ever Hungarian president.
It’s her thoughts on the gender pay gap, though, that ought to get attention at the famously male-dominated World Economic Forum: In an infamous video posted back in late 2020, Novák told the sisterhood: “Do not believe that women have to constantly compete with men. Do not believe that every waking moment of our lives must be spent with comparing ourselves to men, and that we should work in at least the same position, for at least the same pay they do.” That’s us told.
9. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet
You may be surprised to see Hun Manet on this list: The new, Western-educated Cambodian prime minister has been touted in some circles as a potential modernizer and reformer.
But Hun Manet is less a breath of fresh air and a lot more continuation of the same stale story. Having inherited his position from his father, the longtime autocrat Hun Sen, Hun Manet has shown no signs of wanting to reform or modernize Cambodia. While some say it’s too early to tell where he’ll land (given his dad’s still on the scene, along with his Communist loyalists), the fact is: Many hallmarks of autocracy are still present in Cambodia. Repression of the opposition? Check. Dodgy “elections”? Check. Widespread graft and clientelism? Check and check.
10. Qatar Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani
How has a small kingdom of 2.6 million inhabitants in the Persian Gulf managed to play a starring role in so many explosive scandals?
Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani is the prime minister of Qatar, a country that’s played a starring role in many explosive scandals | Chris J. Ratcliffe/AFP via Getty Images
You’d think that sort of record would see Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani shunned by the world’s top brass. Nah! Just this month, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with the Qatari leader and told him the U.S. was “deeply grateful for your ongoing leadership in this effort, for the tireless work which you undertook and that continues, to try to free the remaining hostages.”
See you on the slopes, Mohammed!
11. Polish President Andrzej Duda
When you compare Polish President Andrzej Duda to some of the others on this list, he doesn’t seem to measure up. He’s not a dictator running a violent petro-state, hasn’t invaded any neighbors or even wielded a chainsaw on stage.
But Duda is yesterday’s man. As the last one standing from Poland’s nationalist Law and Justice party that was swept out of office last year, Duda’s holding on for dear life to his own relevance, doing his best to act as a spoiler against the Donald Tusk-led government by wielding his veto powers and harboring convicted lawmakers. All of which is to say: When you catch up with President Duda at Davos, don’t assume he’s speaking for Poland.
12. Amin Nasser, CEO of Aramco
The Saudi Arabian state oil and gas company is Aramco — the world’s biggest energy firm — and Amin Nasser is its boss. If you read Aramco’s press releases, you’d be forgiven for assuming it is also the world’s biggest champion of the green energy transition. Spoiler alert: It’s far from it.
Exhibit A: Aramco is reportedly a top corporate polluter, with environment nongovernmental organization ClientEarth reporting that it accounts for more than 4 percent of the globe’s greenhouse gas emissions since 1965. Exhibit B: Bloomberg reported in 2021 that it understated its carbon footprint by as much as 50 percent.
Nasser, meanwhile, has criticized the idea that climate action should mean countries “either shut down or slow down big time” their fossil fuel production. Say that to Al Gore’s face!
This article has been updated to reflect the fact Shou Zi Chew is no longer going to attend the World Economic Forum.
Dionisios Sturis, Peter Snowdon, Suzanne Lynch and Paul de Villepin contributed reporting.
Hair designer Francesco Pegoretti and makeup designer Jana Carboni worked as a team to focus on the two leads of Ridley Scott’s historical epic Napoleon, about the eponymous French general and emperor (Joaquin Phoenix) and his free-spirited first wife, Josephine (Vanessa Kirby). In the scene pictured above, Napoleon meets Josephine for the first time at a candlelit party, days after she’s escaped beheading during the French Revolution.
“For the first part of the movie, she has to have short hair because she was in the prison waiting for the guillotine,” explains Pegoretti. In the real story of Josephine’s life, she was saved from beheading by only one day and had cut her hair off herself to prevent it from getting caught by the blade. “In the longer version [of the film, the director’s cut to be released on Apple TV+], we are going to see the scene when she’s cutting her hair off, hopefully,” Pegoretti adds.
To achieve the right cut on the wig, Pegoretti balanced historical accuracy and modern flair. “Ridley asked me [not] to be academic, to find something more natural and messy, to follow the character,” he says. “It’s like [she’s] going to a Cure concert,” adds Carboni: “The concept was to go with something edgy and decadent, kind of pixie punk. Josephine was so wild. Even when she becomes empress, she’s never going to be like the other [aristocrats].”
Josephine’s hair grows out later in the film, requiring another wig. “She created a new style for the hair,” explains Pegoretti. “She was very fancy, very fashion. [I needed something reminiscent of] the beginning of the 19th century but also more natural, sometimes messy, to follow the character.”
Josephine was raised outside the aristocracy in Martinique, infiltrating her way into the French elite as an adult. As such, “we decided to keep her eyebrow quite strong because that’s part of the wildness she’s always been and she’s always going to be,” says Carboni.
Kirby is a natural blond, so hair designer Francesco Pegoretti had to work on the dark tones of the wig: “Dark, but not too solid,” he says.
Courtesy of Apple
Josephine wore her makeup heavy, almost as a coat of armor. “She has a very ‘lady of the night’ look. In a way, it’s almost to hide behind that makeup,” says Carboni. “She’s just coming out from prison. She uses beauty and sex appeal to survive.” She adds: “I didn’t want to do anything clownish because she still had to look sexy, but I wanted the heaviness of the makeup.”
When she first meets Napoleon, Josephine glistens as she crosses the room. For her body, Carboni confesses: “Vanessa has the most beautiful skin ever. That was a big help. But still, I put translucent [product] on her skin because the ambient lighting was very dark candlelight. I still wanted her skin to catch the light.”
For the smudgy black eye, Carboni applied shadow mostly with her finger “because it had to look like she did it so she didn’t have to be perfect.” She used a crimson red on Kirby’s cheeks and lip to flush Josephine with sensuality.
Pegoretti and Carboni say Scott films with as many as 11 cameras shooting at once, with very few takes. “You really have to know what you’re doing, and you cannot be sloppy,” Carboni notes. “He only does one or two takes, so you don’t have the chance to say, ‘Oops, sorry.’ You have to be 100 percent right on the first take.”
This story first appeared in a December standalone issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
Of all the numerous and controversial French political figures, it is Napoleon Bonaparte who remains foremost in the minds of the French and non-French alike. A(Bona)part(e) from Marie Antoinette, there is no other icon in French history who still continues to fascinate so enduringly on a “pop” level. To that end, the opening to Ridley Scott’s latest historical drama (spoiler alert: The Last Duel was much better), Napoleon, fittingly combines the two polarizing leaders in a scene that overtly foreshadows what will become of Monsieur Bonaparte after his own ascent.
And yet, watching Antoinette’s head get decapitated in front of a salivating mob doesn’t appear to be enough of an indelible image to quell Napoleon’s (played impressionistically by Joaquin Phoenix) ever-mounting hubris. Indeed, one might say that the only “message” ever established in Napoleon shines through in this lone (and entirely fabricated) scene foretelling of how powerful people are always taken down by this quintessential deadly sin. Napoleon, of course, assumes he is nothing like the monarchs guillotined as the pièce de résistance of the French Revolution. For a start, he’s a Corsican, which automatically makes him a “mutt brute” in the eyes of “real” French people/nobility. After all, it was only one year after Napoleon’s birth that the Republic of Genoa ceded the island to France, with the latter conquering it the year Napoleon was born, 1769. Which made his commitment to France later on so ironic. For he was fundamentally Italian. After all, not only was Corsica originally “possessed” by Italy before France, but any “blue blood” he had stemmed from being descended from Italian nobility (hence, his true last name: Buonaparte). Ergo, another fallacy of Scott’s film via making the tagline so posturing and oversimplifying as to be: “He came from nothing. He conquered everything.”
In any event, perhaps this perception of himself as a “royal” is why he saw his “ownership” of France as some kind of “divine right,” in the end. For even despite “supporting the ideals” of the French Revolution that led to the abolition of the monarchy, Napoleon still couldn’t resist the temptation and seduction of “ultimate power.” No more than he could resist the charms of Joséphine de Beauharnais (played here by Vanessa Kirby, though the role was originally intended for Jodie Comer, who also starred in The Last Duel). A woman who many a man (both then and now) would readily call a “slut.” Indeed, that’s the word used by Napoleon in the film after he’s confronted by The Directory over his “desertion” during the Battle of Egypt upon hearing news of Joséphine’s affair with Hippolyte Charles (Jannis Niewöhner). At which time, he gives them a long spiel about how, if anything, they’re the ones who have deserted France, while Napoleon has returned to restore it to its natural state of glory. This includes, naturally, another coup, with Napoleon and his coterie of co-conspirators, Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand (Paul Rhys), Joseph Fouché (John Hodgkinson), Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès (Julian Rhind-Tutt) and Roger Ducos (Benedict Martin), taking over by force when their “whim to rule” isn’t met with unanimous acceptance. So it is that Napoleon repeats the same cycle of oppression that the French revolutionaries vowed never to tolerate again after toppling the monarchy.
Turns out, Napoleon seemed to think the word “emperor” instead of “king” somehow made his imposed rule more “palatable,” even going so far as to impudently crown himself at the coronation. An emperor willing to “get his hands dirty,” as it were. Of course, this is just one of the many “flourishes” (picked up from a legend surrounding the coronation) that Scott has added to the tale of Napoleon as told through a “Hollywood lens,” one that has been deemed as patently anti-French and pro-British. Scott did little to quash that assessment when he said, in response to negative French reviews of the film, “The French don’t even like themselves.” However, if Napoleon was any indication to be held up as a benchmark, that’s simply not true at all. And it’s perhaps because they hold themselves and their history in such high regard that this film is particularly offensive, namely as Americans speak in attempts at a French accent. This, in turn, also adding to the overall absurdity of the storytelling (also present in House of Gucci when Americans were speaking with “Italian” accents, Lady Gaga being among the worst of the offenders).
Scott stated at the outset of his announcement to direct a film about the emperor, “He came out of nowhere to rule everything—but all the while he was waging a romantic war with his adulterous wife Joséphine. He conquered the world to try to win her love, and when he couldn’t, he conquered it to destroy her, and destroyed himself in the process.” Absolutely none of that comes across in the choppy, disjointedness of Napoleon, which wants so badly to cover such a multitude of themes and grounds that it ends up saying little at all. It is merely a “retelling.” And one with many historical inaccuracies at that (this being another primary complaint about the movie). Not least of which, of course, is the fact that Napoleon wasn’t present at Antoinette’s beheading.
Written by David Scarpa (who also penned the script for Scott’s All the Money in the World and his upcoming sequel to Gladiator), the lack of focus on any one aspect of the vast entity that is Napoleon often causes issues in terms of structure and “meaning.” More often than not, it feels as though things are “just happening” without any buildup to it, let alone a sense of cause and effect.
Funnily enough, Scott’s first feature film, The Duellists (released in 1977), is centered around the Napoleonic Wars and homes in on two rival French officers named Gabriel Feraud (Harvey Keitel), a devoted Bonapartist, and Armand d’Hubert (Keith Carradine), an aristocrat. Spanning twenty years, the film manages to come in well under two hours and covers far more ground than Napoleon can seem to. For it suffers from the same problem as its eponymous dictator: it’s too ambitious and, ultimately, can’t make its mind up about what it wants to achieve. This is likely a result of the script not being based on any specific source material. Whereas Scott seems to be at his best when he works with a script that’s based on an adapted screenplay. This, it should go without saying, does not apply to the odious House of Gucci. In fact, the latter movie and Napoleon suffer from many of the same issues, including, but not limited to: 1) things “just happen” for no reason, thereby making plot and character development all but nil and 2) Scott has become somewhat notorious for letting other cultures tell stories that don’t belong to them. Because, obviously, if any culture should get to tell the story of Maurizio Gucci and Patrizia Reggiani or Napoleon and Joséphine, it should goddamn well be the Italians and the French, respectively. To that end, the real Napoleon biopic to see is 1927’s Napoléon. Not so coincidentally, the film was slated for another restoration and rerelease this year—as though the French wanted to remind a Brit like Scott that it’s absolutely galling to presume to tell the story of their emperor.
As for someone like Marie Antoinette, who has been fixated upon in cinema repeatedly by all manner of nationalities, it was Sofia Coppola (via Kirsten Dunst) who claimed the most memorable ownership over her in recent years. This achieved by fully “pop-ifying” both her personage and the script and soundtrack. Opting to contain the narrative with far more dexterity than Scott is able to with Napoleon. In point of fact, one wonders if this film might not have been better off if Scott and Scarpa had chosen to go full-tilt camp with it (alas, that’s not really something two straight men are capable of, which means casting Peter Dinklage in the lead role would have been out of the question). For there are slight “glimmers” of such campiness in Napoleon’s lecherous exchanges with Joséphine (e.g., Jo opening her legs in front of “Boney” and saying, “If you look down here you’ll see a present, and once you see it you’ll always want it” or Napoleon making animalistic noises at her after she’s just had her hair “set,” finally prompting her to give in to his sexual desires). In truth, the entire movie should have simply had one focus: Napoleon and Joséphine (likely earning it the same straightforward title). That way, there would have been a firmer anchor to the film as opposed to this sense of being “all over the place” (though it is literally that as well, with Scott showing us the far-reaching backdrops of Napoleon’s various famed battles). And, again, with no real “lead up” to anything. Case in point, the sudden decision to include Tsar Alexander’s (Édouard Philipponnat) romantic overtures to Joséphine after her divorce from Napoleon. Overtures that were more likely politically motivated than genuinely romantic.
But such is to be expected from a film fraught with embellishments. Including the much-praised battle scenes themselves, accused by Foreign Policy’s Franz-Stefan Gady of being nothing more than “a Hollywood mishmash of medieval melees, meaningless cannonades, and World War I-style infantry advances.” Adding, “For all of Scott’s fixation on Napoleon’s battles, he seems curiously disinterested in how the real Napoleon fought them.”
Nonetheless, to any condemnation of his seemingly flagrant disregard for accuracy, Scott snapped (in an article for The New Yorker), “Get a life.” For some, though, Napoleon/Napoleonic history is their life. While, for others, quality cinema is. On both counts, Napoleon cannot quite deliver. Falling shorter than the man it pays homage to.
Ridley Scott’s historical epic “Napoleon” was cruelly defeated at the mainland Chinese box office, where it opened in only fifth place on its opening weekend.
Chinese crime thriller “Across the Furious Sea” headed the mainland China charts for a second weekend, earning $20.0 million (RMB142 million), according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway.
“Napoleon” earned just $2.8 million ($19.6 million) in China, according to the firm whose figures are generally considered as final, not estimates.
The film earned generally mixed to positive reviews, but only a middling score of 6.6 out of 10 from users of the Douban movie fan site. But it appears that Chinese audiences found the travails of an ancient French emperor to be too much of a specialist topic. Ticketing firm and data provider, Maoyan showed that “Napoleon’s” viewers in China were two thirds male. It also forecasts that the film will end up with final revenues short of $5 million.
“Across the Furious Sea,” on the other hand, is mainstream Chinese fare. It is adapted from a well-known novel, directed by Cao Baoping and stars Huang Bo and Zhou Xun. After nine days on release (it was only given a Saturday outing, a week earlier), “Furious Sea” has a $64 million cumulative.
Second place was taken by “So Long for Love,” a sentimental drama about a young woman coming to terms with her father’s death, supported by her pet dog and slowly coming to understand her mother’s choices. Directed by Wang Xiaolie, it earned $11.9 million (RMB84.4 million) in its opening three days.
Third spot was taken by “Trending Topic,” which had a Thursday release. The iQiyi-backed drama, directed by Xin Yukun and starring Zhou Dongyu, Yuan Hong and Song Yang, earned $5.7 million between Friday and Sunday and $6.5 million over its opening four days.
Japanese animation, “New Dimension! Crayon Shinchan The Movie: Battle of Supernatural Powers – Flying Sushi” held on to fourth place in its second weekend. It earned $4.5 million for an $11.4 million nine-day cumulative.
Aggregate nationwide cinema revenues were $55.1 million over the weekend. That lifts the year-to-date total to $7.23 billion. Artisan Gateway calculates that to be an 80% increase over a COVID-stricken 2022 and 14.9% behind the same point in 2019.
November was worth $237 million (RMB1.7 billion), a 200% increase on November 2022, but 10% below November 2021. “The Marvels” was the top Hollywood film of the month, earning just $15.5 million (RMB110 million).
Beyoncé’s new concert film is delivering the goods at the box office, where it’s headed for the biggest early December opening in two decades.
Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé— which Beyoncé wrote, directed and produced — could now earn $21 million to $24 million in its debut after it was graced with glowing reviews and a coveted A+ CinemaScore. The film earned $11.5 million on Friday, including $5 million in Thursday previews
Distributor AMC Theatres — also home of blockbuster Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour— is remaining more conservative in suggesting a $20 million opening.
More than 70 percent of Friday’s audience was female, while 50 percent of the audience were Black moviegoers, in a win for diverse programming.
The weekend after Thanksgiving is notoriously sluggish, and Renaissance is a welcome gift for exhibitors. To date, the biggest opening for the first weekend of December belongs to Tom Cruise’s The Last Samurai ($24.3 million), not adjusted for inflation.
Similar to Taylor Swift, Beyoncé and her team decided to bypass Hollywood studios and struck a pact with AMC Theatres to distribute Renaissance, which chronicles her recent world stage tour, while including behind-the-scenes footage detailing the planning and execution of the concert.
Swift and AMC made history in October when Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour opened to a staggering $92.8 million domestically, by far the biggest launch ever for a concert movie. No one expected Renaissance to do the same sort of business, considering her audience is older.
Before Eras Tour, 2008’s Miley Cyrus and Hannah Montana: The Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour held the record for the top domestic opening for a concert film with $31.1 million, not adjusted for inflation. That was followed by 2011’s Justin Bieber: Never Say Never, which opened to $29.5 million.
Renaissance is also rolling out overseas, where it is likewise tracking to open in the $20 million range for a global start of $40 million.
The concert pic isn’t the only gift for exhibitors this weekend. The Japanese film Godzilla Minus One looks to come in No. 3 behind Renaissance and holdover The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes with a hefty $9 million to $10 million thanks to younger men. Males made up 77 percent of ticket buyers on Friday, with 63 percent of all ticket buyers between the ages of 18 and 34.
Coming in No. 4 is the newest offering from Angel Studios, home of sleeper hit Sound of Freedom. The sci-fi, faith-based The Shift is looking at a muted start in the $4.5 million range.
Elsewhere, the news was bleak for Thanksgiving entries Napoleon, from Apple Original Films and Sony, and Disney Animation’s Wish.
Trolls Band Together, Wish and Napoleon are in a three-way race for fourth-place. The trio of films is pacing for a weekend gross in the $7 million range. For Wish, that would mean a steep drop of 63 percent, although Disney is more hopeful in giving a $7 million to $9 million range.
Napoleon is an even worse position, and could fall off as much as 66 percent after opening ahead of expectations over Thanksgiving. The steep decline isn’t a surprise to Hollywood insiders, considering the biographical epic got dinged with a B- CinemaScore by audiences, coupled with poor exits on PostTrak.
Wish, conversely, earned an A CinemaScore and strong exits, meaning it could have legs thanks to strong word of mouth.
Ridley Scott’s historical epic “Napoleon” may not have conquered the top spot in North America, but it emerged victorious at the worldwide box office.
The film, starring Joaquin Phoenix as the infamous French ruler, debuted to $78.8 million, including $46.3 million internationally — enough to stave off the competition on global charts. “Napoleon” brought in $33.1 million domestically in its first five days of release, landing in second place behind “The Hunger Games” prequel “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.”
“The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” added $26.2 million at the international box office, bringing its weekend tally to $68.8 million. Lionsgate’s tentpole, starring Rachel Zegler and Tom Blyth in an action-adventure that predates the saga of Katniss Everdeen, has grossed $197.2 million globally to date. With its $100 million price tag, “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” appears to be well positioned in its theatrical run. But ticket sales haven’t lived up to the original series, so it’s too soon to tell if there’s enough interest to justify future sequels and spinoffs set in the bleak world of Panem.
“Napoleon,” which has received mixed reviews and audience scores, cost $200 million and is far from a financial winner despite its reign this weekend at the global box office. But Apple, which backed the movie and hired Sony Pictures to distribute it theatrically, isn’t overly concerned with the profits and losses of its movies (for now). Similar to the company’s first big-screen swing, Martin Scorsese’s $200 million crime epic “Killers of the Flower Moon,” the company is hoping to build buzz for its eventual launch on Apple TV+. In the best circumstances, these films will generate awards attention as well. Apple is testing this strategy again in 2024 with Matthew Vaughn’s “Argylle” via Universal Pictures.
At the international box office, “Napoleon” doubled the debuts of “Killers of the Flower Moon” and Scott’s last film “House of Gucci” at the same points in their theatrical rollouts, according to Sony. The biggest market was the U.K. with $6.6 million over the five days followed by France (despite harsh reviews from the country’s critics and a derisive retaliation from Scott, who cried that “the French don’t even like themselves”) with $5.6 million. Other top territories were Germany with $3.4 million, Italy with $3.1 million and Mexico with $2.9 million. It has yet to open in China, Japan or South Korea.
This weekend’s other newcomer, Disney’s animated “Wish,” debuted to $17.3 million from 27 international markets, about 40% of its eventual overseas footprint. Globally, the musical fable about the Wishing Star that so many Disney characters have wished upon, has earned a disappointing $49 million in its opening weekend. It cost $200 million and is shaping up to be the second consecutive misfire for Disney, following “The Marvels,” which opened earlier in November.
The latest comic book adventure in the Marvel Cinematic Universe has grossed $110 million overseas and $187 million globally so far. At this rate, the big-budget sequel will end its box office run as the lowest-grossing MCU movie in history — by a landslide. This ignominious distinction currently belongs to 2008’s “The Incredible Hulk” with $264 million, not adjusted for inflation.
There’s high drama at the Thanksgiving box office.
Heading into the long holiday corridor, Disney Animation’s music-infused original event pic Wish was expected to win the crowded holiday race. Instead, it came in third behind The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes and Napoleon in another blow for Disney.
Overall, the 2023 Thanksgiving box office was up a hefty 40 percent or more from last year but still trailed pre-pandemic times (revenue was down 34 percent from 2019).
The Hunger Games prequel easily topped the domestic chart with an estimated $42 million for the Wednesday to Sunday corridor, including $28.8 million for the weekend. The movie, which opened the weekend before Thanksgiving, finished Sunday with a domestic total of nearly $100 million and $197.3 million globally after earning another $26.2 million overseas.
In a surprise twist, Ridley Scott’s new historical epic Napoleon edged out Wish to come in No. 2 thanks in large part to older males. The historical epic, starring Joaquin Phoenix, opened to an estimated $32.5 million for the five days, including $20.4 million for the weekend. Napoleon — a win for Apple’s theatrical ambitions — came in well ahead of expectations for an adult drama. Its performance is also impressive considering it received so-so reviews and a B- CinemaScore from moviegoers.
Scott’s epic also prevailed on the battlefield overseas, where it opened No. 1 with $46.3 million for a global launch of $78.8 million.
Napoleon is the second big theatrical swing from Apple Original Films after Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, which is currently in theaters via Paramount. Apple Original Films fully financed the two tentpoles, which both have Oscar ambitions. Sony is Apple’s global distribution and marketing partner on Napoleon.
Heading into the Thanksgiving frame, Napoleon was looking at a five-day holiday cume of $22 million to $25 million.
Wish, an original story with no affiliated IP, earned an estimated $19.7 million for the three days and $31.7 million for the five days to place No. 3. Heading into the holiday, the movie had been tracking to open to $45 million to $50 million. Overseas, the animated pic started off with $17.5 million (its initial footprint only includes four major markets).
Disney has suffered a rocky year at the box office, capped by recent bust The Marvels. Wish, which earned $8.3 million on Wednesday, could still overcome a soft opening if it enjoys a long run as Encanto and Elemental did. Going in Wish‘s favor as the Christmas season approaches is an A- CinemaScore and strong PostTrak exits.
Universal and Illumination’s Trolls Band Together, which opened the weekend before Thanksgiving opposite Napoleon, came in No. 4 with a five-day gross of $25.3 million for a domestic tally of $64.5 million. (The performance of both Trolls and Wish fuels concern that the family box office still hasn’t recovered from the pandemic.)
TriStar and Spyglass Media’s slasher pic Thanksgiving rounded out the top five in its second weekend with an estimated five-day cume of $11.2 million for a 10-day domestic tally north of $24 million.
Speaking of horror, Five Nights at Freddy’s achieved a major milestone over the holiday in becoming the top-grossing Blumhouse pic of all time at the global box office after passing up Split ($278.7 million). Five Nights, from Blumhouse and Universal, finished Sunday with an estimated worldwide haul of $283.1 million.
At the awards box office, Focus Features’ The Holdovers looks to come in No. 7 with five-day holiday earnings in the $4 million range.
MGM/Amazon’s Saltburn followed with a domestic opening of $3.1 million. The movie has also earned $3.1 million at the international box office for an early global tally of $6.2 million (Warner Bros. International is handling the pic overseas).
This story was originally published Nov. 25 at 8:32 am.
In Ridley Scott’s Napoleon, Vanessa Kirby has transformed a maligned, historical figure—Josephine Bonaparte—into a kickass, independent, outspoken woman with a voice and an opinion. Like many wives, girlfriends, sisters, and daughters of famous men, Josephine was an afterthought in historical texts and often merely written off as “Napoleon’s wife” with no depth of research or information about her, well after her death.
Indeed, Kirby’s interviews around the movie have revealed that it was her job to create Josephine as much from her imagination as from historical texts. As Kirby told Vogue France, “I had never come across a character quite so enigmatic and so difficult to understand.”
It might be easy to assume Vanessa Kirby’s Josephine Bonaparte—with delicate tendrils framing her fine-boned face—is an attractive sideshow in the Napoleon Bonaparte story. After all, the real Empress Josephine was relegated to some footnotes in history books, merely the romantic interest of the (supposedly) much more fascinating, battle-hungry Napoleon.
In fact, as difficult as she finds it to navigate a world run by men for the benefit of men, Josephine always has a sense of assurance about her. She believes that she is deserving of greatness and that her intellect and physical beauty are assets, rather than the liabilities that Napoleon believes them to be (especially when he leaves for battle, hearing rumors of Josephine’s sexual liaisons in his absence).
Napoleon director Ridley Scott should not be underestimated as far as his investment in women characters. For all the warmongering, bloodied battle movies he’s famed for (Gladiator, Black Hawk Down, Exodus: Gods and Kings, etc), he also directed one of the most famous female friendship dramas of all time in 1991’s Thelma & Louise. In 1979, he also directed Sigourney Weaver as the fiercely determined Ripley in Alien, which is still considered one of the most iconic and heroic characters in film.
In Napoleon, as epic (and frightful) as Joaquin Phoenix’s Napoleon Bonaparte is, it is the courageous, intelligent Josephine who steals the show. It is a triumph that Josephine’s story is blazing across cinema screens over two centuries since her death from pneumonia in May, 1814. An Empress, a Queen, a prisoner, a scorned wife, and a patron of the arts: Josephine was unique, significant, and fascinating. How was it that she was so lamentably erased from history in favor of hundreds of thousands of books on Napoleon in which her existence is shrunken to being only a great man’s love interest?
Viewers are introduced to Kirby’s Josephine as she is leaving the Carmes Prison in Paris, five days after the guillotine execution of her first husband Alexandre de Beauharnais, a general in the French Revolution. Alexandre was the father of her two children, Eugene and Hortense, and to this day, many of the European royal families can trace their ancestry back to Josephine.
Still, most historical texts refer to Josephine’s surname as “de Beauharnais”, but she took this name from her first husband and immediately stopped using it upon marrying Napoleon and adopting “Bonaparte”. It was easier for historians to imagine Josephine in the shadows of her husbands, either a de Beauharnais or a Bonaparte, but her full, beautiful name was Marie Joseph Rose Tascher de la Pagerie. That was the name she sometimes reverted to after her marriage to Napoleon was annulled.
From birth, Josephine’s life had been planned and strategized by her wealthy parents. It was her own fiery, independent spirit that enabled her to challenge the assumptions made of her and the rigid roles she was squeezed into. Kirby portrays her as sassy, with the sort of reckless confidence of a woman who has survived prison, the slaughter of her husband, affairs with powerful politicians, and marriage to one of France’s most feared and worshipped figures: the Emperor Napoleon.
It was a confidence that wasn’t easily earned. At only 15, Josephine was betrothed to 17-year-old Alexandre de Beauharnais because her younger sister Catherine-Desiree—his original choice—had died, and their grandmother refused to allow their youngest sister Marie-Francoise (not even 12 years old) to leave the family home to be married. Josephine was the final option, a commiseration prize as the elderly bride at only 15.
Unsurprisingly, Alexandre abandoned Josephine and their children to spend his time in brothels and ultimately moved in with his mistress until their eventual separation. It did not relieve Josephine of her burdensome marriage though, and she was imprisoned in 1794 because of Alexandre’s counter-revolutionary activity.
And so, we meet the fictional movie Josephine at this point—already a survivor, a child bride, a scorned wife, and a single mother. “She was a kind of outsider, just as Napoleon was,” Kirby revealed in a featurette for the film. “Josephine had to be this incredible force of nature…she was iconic, and I felt really honored to try to inhabit her.”
Whether the real Josephine was as strikingly elegant and statuesque as Kirby is by the by. The real Josephine was catnip to powerful men. Months after Napoleon met her in 1795, then six years her junior, he wrote a beseeching letter revealing his absolute intoxication with her. By January, he had proposed and they were married in March.
Letters between the two, in which he is exceedingly sentimental and overwrought with emotion and she is much more measured in response, have led historians to suggest that she was not nearly as in love with him as he was with her. The movie version suggests otherwise; that his overblown antics and self-obsession were so tiresome to contend with that Josephine refused to imitate his performative antics. She loved him though, almost as a mirror of her own desire to command and wield power over adoring masses.
You may love or loathe this movie, but Kirby’s impassioned, fiery Josephine is a catharsis over two centuries in the making. Finally, the real Josephine has been gifted an actress worthy of representing her as a complicated, sexually liberated, irrepressible woman.
Sean, Amanda, and Chris explore the high highs of Ridley Scott’s Napoleon—in particular the battle scenes—while trying to sort through their feelings on why the movie doesn’t come together as a whole quite how they hoped it would (1:00). Then, they try to place Napoleon in the historical context of “great men” movies and share their top five in the genre (40:00).
Hosts: Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins Guest: Chris Ryan Senior Producer: Bobby Wagner
Disney is wishing upon a box office star this Thanksgiving, as its latest animated movie “Wish” takes on Apple’s historical drama “Napoleon.”
“Wish” is expected to come out on top this weekend, but “Napoleon” won the first box office battle in previews. “Napoleon” made $3 million in previews, which began on Tuesday due to the Thanksgiving holiday, and “Wish” made $2.3 million.
The family friendly animated movie about Disney’s iconic wishing star is expected to make $35 million over the typical weekend. With the extra-long Thanksgiving holiday, it could add up to $45 million to $50 million over the five days. “Napoleon,” directed by Ridley Scott and starring Joaquin Phoenix as the brutal French ruler, is projected to make $16 million over the weekend and around $22 million in the extended holiday frame.
Disney usually dominates during Thanksgiving time, when families arrive in droves to theaters, but “Wish” marks the second smaller opening for the company. Last year’s animated adventure “Strange World” flopped with just $18 million over the five-day holiday. In 2021, the musical “Encanto” made $40.3 million in the same timespan during the pandemic, but didn’t start to really sing until it was made available to stream on Disney+. The years before that had much bigger hits, like 2019’s “Frozen II” ($123.7 million), 2018’s “Ralph Breaks the Internet” ($84.6 million) and 2017’s “Coco” ($71 million).
“Napoleon” is Apple’s second big-screen bet this fall, following Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon.” That movie opened with $23 million and has gone on to make $145 million so far. Like “Napoleon,” they both carry expensive price tags and are adult-skewing, auteur-made dramas backed by the deep-pocketed Apple, so it’s hard to judge their success based solely on the box office receipts.
Refresh for updates Apple Original Productions Ridley Scott Napoleonwon $3M in Tuesday night previews while Disney’s Wishtook in $2.3M. Both fired off at 3PM yesterday.
That’s an impressive number for Napoleon given the war epic movie that it is: it’s right under what 1917 previews (7PM) did for its wide expansion back in January 2020 which was $3.25M, and it’s ahead of Apple/Paramount’s Killers of the Flower Moon which was $2.6M.
1917 did $13.9M on its expanded Friday at 3,434 locations before posting a 3-day of $37M. Clearly, Napoleon will have a different gross pattern. Killers of the Flower Moon‘s first Friday was $9.4M before posting a Friday through Sunday of $23.2M.
Napoleon is booked at 3,017 theatres including PLFs and 70MM. Rotten Tomatoes reviews are at 66% fresh.
Meanwhile, Lionsgate’s Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes led all movies with $6.5M at 3,776 theaters taking its five day running total to $56.4M. Hunger Games will share Imax screens with Napoleon over the five-day holiday stretch.
EXCLUSIVE: Getting a leg-up here on our Thanksgiving stretch preview, Apple Studios production of Ridley Scott’s Napoleonwill invade the global box office via Sony this Wednesday, in what’s shaping up to be a $46M WW global start.
Split up for the Wednesday-Sunday stretch, that’s $22M 5-day domestic, and $24M overseas.
Note, it’s not the only wide release over the holiday: There’s Disney’s animated movie Wish, which we’ll tell you more about early next week and there’s the second weekend of everything that’s bowing today: Hunger Games: Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, Trolls Band Together, Thanksgiving and Next Goal Wins.
Napoleon, starring Oscar winner Joaquin Phoenix, is on a 45 day-theatrical window, we hear, before it hits Apple TV+.
Lady Gaga as Patrizia Reggiani in House of Gucci
Fabio Lovino/MGM
We’re told the comp here both domestic and stateside is Scott’s House of Gucci which launched over the 2021 5-day Thanksgiving holiday worldwide when Covid was still top of mind for moviegoers. That Lady Gaga-Adam Driver-Al Pacino-Jared Leto movie in unadjusted for inflation overseas grosses did $12.8M and another $22M in U.S./Canada for a $34.1M global start. Big territories for House of Gucci were Scott’s homeland of the UK ($3.4M opening), France ($1.9M), followed by Mexico at a near $1M.
Napoleon will invade 85% of offshore territories with major territories Belgium, France and the UK going on Nov. 22; Australia, Brazil, Germany, Italy, Mexico and Netherlands on Nov. 23; and Spain on Nov. 24. China opens on Dec. 1 along with Japan. South Korea will go on Dec. 6.
Stateside, previews begin Tuesday at 3PM in 2,700 sites for the movie which also stars Vanessa Kirby as Napoleon’s wife Josephine. Pic will expand to 3,300 by Wednesday and will screen in Imax, PLFs and select locations in 70MM. Napoleon is currently trending with older guys over 35, followed by males 17-34 and then women over 35. Rotten Tomatoes for Napoleon stand at 67% fresh.
Paramount Pictures /Courtesy Everett Collection
Killers of the Flower Moon, which repped streamer Apple’s foray into wide theatrical releases with Paramount,had a $44M global debut and a $23.2M domestic opening over 3-days back in October in the thick of the actors’ strike. RT critics score notched 93% certified fresh. While the cast of Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Jesse Plemmons and Lily Gladstone put in facetime at the Cannes Film Festival World premiere, it’s only now that they’re fully out there after an entire summer and fall off with the SAG-AFTRA standoff with AMPTP over. The current running total stateside on Killers of the Flower Moon is $61.6M and $138.8M worldwide.
A big difference to look out for in grosses between the two Apple movies is that Killers of the Flower Moon is 3 1/2 hours long, which crimps the number of showtimes, while Napoleon clocks in at 2 hours and 38 minutes. It won’t come as a shock if the latter grosses more.
Ridley Scott‘s Napoleon has charted a course for China. The big-budget historical epic has locked down a potentially lucrative release date in the country on Dec. 1, according to multiple mainstream Chinese media sources.
Napoleon is from Apple Original Films and Sony Pictures. The film will be released in North American theaters on Nov. 22 by Sony Pictures and will stream on Apple TV+ at a later date.
Written by David Scarpa, the lavish period film, which clocks in at a meaty two hours and 38 minutes, stars Oscar winner Joaquin Phoenix as the French military commander and later despot Napoleon Bonaparte, with Vanessa Kirby as his consort, Empress Joséphine. The movie charts Bonaparte’s meteoric rise from lowly artillery commander to Napoleon I, emperor of France, and takes in notable military engagements such as the battles of Austerlitz and Waterloo
Universal’s Oppenheimer proved earlier this year that lengthy runtimes and weighty historical subjects are by no means a dealbreaker for Chinese moviegoers, with the period drama earning $61 million, the second-best China total of Christopher Nolan’s career behind 2014’s Interstellar ($139 million).
Napoleon will get a wide release on Imax in China, as did Oppenheimer.
With much of his classic filmography released long before China was a box-office force, Scott’s career-best showings in the country are The Martian (2015), with $94.9 million, and Alien: Covenant (2017) at $45.4 million.
Napoleon cost an estimated $200 million to make, before marketing, making a strong international showing a must for the epic.
The early reaction from critics to Napoleon has been largely positive. It has been most consistently praised for its epic scale — always a bonus in the China market — particularly the set-piece battle scenes that make the movie a worthy theatrical experience. Phoenix and Kirby’s performances have also won early admiration.
A new Napoleon clip for Sony Pictures’ forthcoming epic war drama has been revealed, featuring Oscar winner Joaquin Phoenix as the titular French leader.
The video shows the controversial historical figure as he displays his military prowess and intelligence by coming up with an ingenious plan to defeat their enemies. It highlights the Battle of Austerlitz, where Napoleon lures opposing forces into a brutal icy trap. The film premieres on November 22.
Ridley Scott is directing from a screenplay written by David Scarpa. This marks Phoenix and Scott’s latest collaboration together after previously working together in the acclaimed 2000 epic drama Gladiator. Joining Phoenix are Vanessa Kirby, Tahar Rahim, Ben Miles, Ludivine Sagnier, Matthew Needham, Youssef Kerkour, Phil Cornwell, and more.
“Napoleon is a spectacle-filled action epic that details the checkered rise and fall of the iconic French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte,” reads the synopsis. “Against a stunning backdrop of large-scale filmmaking orchestrated by legendary director Ridley Scott, the film captures Bonaparte’s relentless journey to power through the prism of his addictive, volatile relationship with his one true love, Josephine, showcasing his visionary military and political tactics against some of the most dynamic practical battle sequences ever filmed.”
Napoleon is produced by Scott and Kevin Walsh for Scott Free. As Scott prepares for the movie’s upcoming release this year, he is also currently busy working on his long-awaited Gladiator sequel, which will be led by Oscar nominee Paul Mescal.
Ridley Scott’s epic historical drama on Napoleon Bonaparte recently received its second trailer as its release date quickly approaches. While Scott is most well-known for his sci-fi films, such as Alien, Blade Runner, and The Martian, his other specialty is historical and period dramas. Often, he blends the genres of historical drama and action, such as with Gladiator and The Duellists. Hence, his upcoming film, Napoleon, should encompass the elements of historical filmmaking that he is best at.
Additionally, the legacy of Napoleon Bonaparte is one of the most intriguing and complicated in French history. Bonaparte is considered one of the greatest military leaders of all time, having first risen through the ranks of the French army before eventually naming himself Emperor of France. Through his skilled military tactics, he succeeded in forming the First French Empire and attaining control of a good portion of Europe. He is remembered for having embraced the ideas of the French Revolution during his career and having advocated to uphold them during his reign. Ultimately, his empire fell after he led a disastrous invasion of Russia, leaving the former Emperor to live out his remaining days in exile.
Bonaparte’s legacy remains mixed. On the one hand, he is remembered for forming the First French Empire and attempting to solidify the rights the French Revolution fought for with his Napoleonic Code. On the other hand, he is also remembered for reinstating slavery in the French colonies and being so power-hungry that he cared little for the estimated millions of lives lost during the Napoleonic Wars. Capturing the scope of his military career, French rule, and the polarizing legacy he left behind is bound to be complicated but fascinating if Scott can pull it off.
Napoleon‘s second trailer delves into Bonaparte’s ego
Napoleon is set to release in theaters on November 22, and with just a month left before its premiere, Sony dropped the second official trailer. Sony is collaborating with Apple Original Films on Napoleon, and it will also be available to stream on Apple TV+ at an undisclosed later date.
The trailer, which fittingly plays to the backdrop of Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs,” delves into the scope of Napoleon and Bonaparte’s infamous ego. It starts with Bonaparte (Joaquin Phoenix) looking on stoically during what appears to be the Battle of Austerlitz as he tricks the opposing army onto the ice while mercilessly firing canons upon them. Additionally, through most of the trailer, we hear Bonaparte describing himself as being built differently, comparing himself to Alexander the Great and Caesar, and declaring that he is “destined for greatness.” He comes across as a man truly obsessed with being great and how people perceive him. Besides delving into his personality, the second Napoleon trailer gives many clips of brutal, epic, and realistic battles.
The first trailer, released on July 10, also showed snippets of the Battle of Austerlitz, as well as a more noble side of Bonaparte, who expressed wanting to prevent France from falling or failing.
We also see the support he had when crowning himself Emperor. However, doubts and dissent are also shown over his egotism and relentless pursuit of power.
Joaquin Phoenix stars as Bonaparte in Napoleon
(Sony Pictures Releasing/Apple Original Films)
Phoenix is set to lead Napoleon in the lead role of Bonaparte. Phoenix is the award-winning actor best known for his roles in Joker, Gladiator, and Beau is Afraid. He’s no stranger to portraying larger-than-life figures, as he once portrayed Johnny Cash, and he has a knack for exceedingly complex characters. It’s anticipated his role as Bonaparte could land him another Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. Also expected to be a shoo-in for the Oscars is Phoenix’s co-star, Vanessa Kirby, who will portray Bonaparte’s first wife, Empress Joséphine. Kirby is best known for her role in The Crown, and she is captivating in Napoleon‘s trailer as the bold, feisty, and fierce woman declaring Bonaparte is nothing without her.
The Prophet‘s Tahar Rahim will star as Paul Barras, a corrupt and powerful politician who aided in Bonaparte’s rise to power and set him up with Joséphine, while Sanditon‘s Matthew Needham will portray Bonaparte’s brother, Lucien Bonaparte. Another star from The Crown, Ben Miles, will appear in Napoleon as Caulaincourt, Bonaparte’s advisor. Ludivine Sagnier will also appear as Theresa Cabarrus, the Princess of Chimay. Other royalty appearing in Napoleon include Édouard Philipponnat as Alexander I, the Tsar of Russia, Rupert Everett as Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, and Catherine Walker as Marie-Antoinette.
Rounding out the cast of Napoleon are Paul Rhys as Talleyrand, Mark Bonnar as Jean-Andoche Junot, Youssef Kerkour as General Davout, Sam Crane as Jacques-Louis David, and Phil Cornwell as Sanson ‘The Borreau.’
What will Napoleon focus on?
(Sony Pictures Releasing/Apple Original Films)
Given how expansive and controversial Bonaparte’s history is, viewers may be wondering what part of his story Napoleon will focus most on. The official synopsis for the film reads:
“Napoleon is a spectacle-filled action epic that details the checkered rise and fall of the iconic French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. Against a stunning backdrop of large-scale filmmaking orchestrated by legendary director Ridley Scott, the film captures Bonaparte’s relentless journey to power through the prism of his addictive, volatile relationship with his one true love, Josephine, showcasing his visionary military and political tactics against some of the most dynamic practical battle sequences ever filmed.”
Hence, it appears the film will focus mainly on the years of Bonaparte’s rule, which lasted from 1804-1814, as well as the military career that preceded his rise to the throne. Additionally, while Bonaparte had two wives and many mistresses during his lifetime, the film will focus on his marriage to Joséphine. Joséphine is often considered Bonaparte’s “one true love,” although they divorced due to Bonaparte’s desire for an heir. It will be interesting to explore Bonaparte’s personal life, as his history is too often explored only in relation to his rule and military skill. With a grand scale, impressive cast, and deep dive into the tumultuous years of Bonaparte’s rule, Napoleon has the potential to be quite the historical epic.
This piece was written during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. Without the labor of the actors currently on strike, the work being covered here wouldn’t exist.
(featured image: Sony Pictures Releasing/Apple Original Films )
