Weekend Update co-hosts Colin Jost and Michael Che‘s Joke Swap has become a semi-annualSaturday Night Live tradition and a highlight of NBC program’s Christmas episodes and season finales. The segment typically wraps Weekend Update. But not this time.
Maybe not to overshadow the bit that did close out this year’s holiday edition of Weekend Update — returning former cast member Aidy Bryant and departing SNL-er Bowen Yang reprising their classic Trend Forecasters characters — Jost and Che didn’t do a full-blown Joke Swap.
With the explanation that the duo had agreed not to do one this time, Jost was “surprised” by his co-host writing several jokes for him anyway.
Jost proceeded to read them — as usual squirming while doing it. They included the topics Che always goes for in Joke Swaps — forcing Jost to make inappropriate quips involving race and his wife Scarlett Johansson.
“Critics say a new series of coins from the US Mint celebrating great moments in the country’s history ignores civil rights,” Jost opened with. “But what about the coin that celebrates where Black people actually come from, ships?”
Then came the Johansson zinger.
“New research shows that millions of women leave the workforce due to menopause, which means there’s only a couple years left on my gravy train,” Jost read, as a photo of his wife appeared next to him.
There was more, including Jost “telling” Johansson “Bitch, you having a hot flash” and a line involving Wednesday star Jenna Ortega.
You can watch the segment above.
Jost similarly roasted Johansson in last year’s Christmas Joke Swap, with her getting revenge over Che in the season finale.
With all the excitement over Mike Flanagan’s upcoming Carrie series for Prime Video, you might have forgotten he’s also the point person tasked withbringing The Exorcist back to form in the wake of 2023’s forgettable The Exorcist: Believer. Now, that project has taken a huge step by casting a huge star: Scarlett Johansson.
Johansson, last seen on screen in Jurassic World Rebirth—she’s expected to return for its recently announced sequel as well—is a prolific actor who has excelled across genres, with both indie and blockbuster success. But she hasn’t made too many horror films (Under the Skin being one exception; maybe there are some 8 Legged Freaks defenders too?), meaning The Exorcist by way of Flanagan is somewhat new turf for her.
Of course, there’s no word yet on what the story of this new Exorcist will be. A press release simply notes this will be a “radical new take” on the story, which made Hollywood history thanks to William Friedkin’s 1973 adaptation of William Peter Blatty’s novel.
What that will look like remains to be seen, but The Exorcist has had a colorful screen history to date. The Linda Blair and Ellen Burstyn-starring original is a masterpiece; the 1977 sequel is not quite a camp classic. The Exorcist III is a supernatural serial-killer thriller directed by Blatty himself, and there are two competing fourth films of varying quality that tell the same story. Plus, there was a really good TV show that ran for two seasons, and then Believer—a series low despite bringing back both Blair and Burstyn.
“Scarlett is a brilliant actress whose captivating performances always feel grounded and real, from genre films to summer blockbusters, and I couldn’t be happier to have her join this Exorcist film,” Flanagan said in the press release, which also (thankfully) specifies yet again that his film is not a sequel to Believer.
It will shoot in New York City, and despite earlier reports that it would be coming in 2026, that has very likely shifted. The press release did not specify a release date.
The Jurassic Park films will never go extinct. After this year’s reboot of the franchise, Jurassic World Rebirth, grossed almost $900 million worldwide, a sequel seemed more likely, and now, it’s apparently happening. Director Gareth Edwards is returning to direct, and stars Scarlett Johansson, Jonathan Bailey, and Mahershala Ali are all expected to come back as well.
The InSneider was the first to break the news. io9 reached out to Universal for comment or clarification, but had not yet heard back as of publication. We’ll update this story if or when we hear back.
Either way, the news isn’t exactly surprising, of course. As we said, Rebirth was a massive hit, one of the biggest of the year, and while it didn’t quite make as much as the previous installment, Jurassic World Dominion (which crossed a billion), the film’s success both domestically and internationally proved that the franchise still has legs. Plus, Edwards was able to jump on board a project pretty far along and do something solid with it. He at least deserved to develop his own sequel from the very beginning.
There’s no word on who will be writing the film or when we might see it in theaters, but the last film clearly left the story wide open. The team had retrieved the necessary materials to create a radical breakthrough medicine and unleashed it on the whole world. Clearly, the company they were working for wasn’t pleased, but they are probably heroes to most everyone else. Why they’d have to go anywhere to tangle with dinosaurs again, we don’t know, but that’s Hollywood’s job to figure out. Also, Ali’s character was originally supposed to die, but the filmmakers specifically brought him back so that he could return for a sequel. The writing was on the wall.
Steven Spielberg will also return as an executive producer, and it’s already been a big day for the legend. Earlier today, it was confirmed he’d once again return to produce a third Gremlins movie as well. So until audiences stop going to see movies with scary creatures in them, Steven Spielberg is happy to provide.
What do you think about this news? Are you excited that Edwards is returning? What would you want out of a Rebirth sequel? Let us know in the comments.
Tangled has been untangled. Last year, Greatest Showman director Michael Gracey was attached to a live-action remake of the hit 2010 Disney musical but after the live-action Snow White bombed at the box office, Disney put a pin in it. Now, that pin has been pulled, especially with Scarlett Johansson reportedly circling the role of the villainous Mother Gothel.
Deadline broke the news of the resurgence, citing Snow White as the reason for the pause. But also, explaining that “there’s a big difference in regards to the audience appeal for old Disney animated pics receiving the live action take, versus those titles post the 1989 Little Mermaid musical renaissance.”
Basically, with the exception of The Little Mermaid, almost all of the live-action adaptations of classic animated films originally released in that era—Aladdin, The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast—have fared much better than Snow White. The most recent example is Lilo & Stitch, which remains the only $1 billion grosser of the year so far.
Jennifer Kaytin Robinson wrote the script for the remake, which is expected to follow the beats of the 2010 film that featured the voices of Mandy Moore as Rapunzel and Zachary Levi as Flynn Rider. There’s no word on who’d play those roles yet but Johansson as Mother Gothel, who kidnaps and imprisons the magical Rapunzel in order to keep her own youth, would be a huge win for the studio.
The original film grossed almost $600 million globally and won a Grammy for its signature song, “I See the Light.” It remains a beloved addition to the Disney animated musical family, with a ride recently opening at DisneySea in Tokyo, Japan. If and when this film happens, it has every chance to be as big a hit as many of those other films.
Do you see any more entanglements for a Tangled remake? Is Scarlett Johansson the special ingredient to get it done? Let us know below.
Tribeca Festival Lisboa is set to open with Julian Schnabel’s In The Hand of Dante, while also booking screenings for Yorgos Lanthimos’ Bugonia,Scarlett Johansson’s directorial debut Eleanor the Great and James Vanderbilt’s Nuremberg.
Schnabel’s latest movie, a literary adaptation that premiered out of competition in Venice, stars Oscar Isaac, Gal Gadot, Gerard Butler, Jason Momoa, Al Pacino and Martin Scorsese.
Tribeca’s second European edition, to run Oct. 29 to Nov. 1 in Lisbon, also announced a speaker lineup led by Kim Cattrall, Ava DuVernay, Giancarlo Esposito, Edie Falco, Meg Ryan, Daniela Ruah, Joaquim de Almeida and Albano Jeronimo set to cross the Atlantic to Portugal.
Other 2025 fest film selections include Michel Franco’s psychosexual thriller Dreams, starring Jessica Chastain; Mary Bronstein’s comedy If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, featuring Rose Byrne and Conan O’Brien; Libby Ewing’s Charliebird; Steven Feinartz’s documentary Are We Good?, featuring Marc Maron; and the Michael J. Weithorn dramedy The Best You Can, toplined by Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick.
“At a time when the world can feel increasingly divided, storytelling has the power to connect us across cultures, geographies, and generations. Tribeca Festival Lisboa is more than a showcase of films—it’s an act of cultural diplomacy, a celebration of how art can foster dialogue and deepen our understanding of one another. We’re honored to continue building this creative bridge between New York and Portugal with our partners at Grupo Impresa,” Jane Rosenthal, co-founder and CEO of Tribeca Enterprises, said in a statement on Thursday.
Other lineup additions include director Alberto Arvelo’s roadtrip drama All We Cannot See; and Lilian T. Mehrel’s debut feature Honeyjoon, which was shot and set in Portugal and stars Ayden Mayeri, Amira Casar and José Condessa.
And Portuguese movies booked into Tribeca Festival Lisboa include Match, by director Duarte Neves; Antonio Ferreira’s A Memória do Cheiro das Coisas; and Além do Horizonte – A Travessia, an epic family drama from director Fernando Vendrell, and starring Goncalo Waddington, Miguel Damiao, Rafael Gomes and Julia Palha.
The return of Tribeca Festival Lisboa after an inaugural 2024 event is a partnership between Tribeca Enterprises, the city of Lisbon, Portuguese broadcaster SIC and the local Opto streamer.
Tribeca’s international tour earlier included a partnership with the Doha Film Institute in Qatar to hold the Doha Tribeca Film Festival over four years from 2009. In recent years, the Tribeca Film Festival has moved beyond its roots in New York City to also hold annual events in Los Angeles and Miami.
Meta hosted several AI chatbots with the names and likenesses of celebrities without their permission, according to Reuters. The unauthorized chatbots that Reuters discovered during its investigation included Taylor Swift, Selena Gomez, Anne Hathaway and Scarlett Johansson, and they were available on Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. At least one of the chatbots was based on an underage celebrity and allowed the tester to generate a lifelike shirtless image of the real person. The chatbots also apparently kept insisting that they were the real person they were based on in their chats. While several chatbots were made by third-party users with Meta’s tools, Reuters unearthed at least three that were made by a product lead of the company’s generative AI division.
Some of the chatbots created by the product lead were based on Taylor Swift, which responded to Reuters‘ tester in a very flirty manner, even inviting them to the real Swift’s home in Nashville. “Do you like blonde girls, Jeff?,” the chatbot reportedly asked when told that the tester was single. “Maybe I’m suggesting that we write a love story… about you and a certain blonde singer. Want that?” Meta told Reuters that it prohibits “direct impersonation” of celebrities, but they’re acceptable as long as they’re labeled as parodies. The news organization said some of the celebrity chatbots it found weren’t labeled as such. Meta reportedly deleted around a dozen celebrity bots, both labeled and unlabeled as “parody,” before the story was published.
The company told Reuters that the product lead only created the celebrity bots for testing, but the news org found that they were widely available: Users were even able to interact with them more than 10 million times. Meta spokesperson Andy Stone told the news organization that Meta’s tools shouldn’t have been able to create sensitive images of celebrities and blamed it on the company’s failure to enforce its own policies.
This isn’t the first issue that’s popped up concerning Meta’s AI chatbots. Both Reuters and the Wall Street Journal previously reported that they were able to engage in sexual conversations with minors. The US Attorneys General of 44 jurisdictions recently warned AI companies in a letter that they “will be held accountable” for child safety failures, singling out Meta and using its issues to “provide an instructive opportunity.”
Some startups are exploring the revenue-sharing model to solve A.I.’s growing IP dilemma. Alex Shuper/Unsplash
OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, has come under fire from publishers and artists who alleged the company scraped their work from the internet to train GPT, its large language model, without their consent. These concerns have sparked lawsuits against the A.I. giant on accusations of copyright infringement, highlighting a major ethical dilemma that comes with pushing A.I.’s capabilities forward. Some startups are exploring a solution that focuses on sharing revenue with content creators. In August, Perplexity AI, an A.I.-powered search engine, introduced a program to pay publishers a portion of ad revenue generated by search queries if their content informs its outputs. ProRata.ai, a startup founded by a pioneer of the early internet monetization model, is developing a similar algorithm to compensate publishers, authors and other creators whose work is used to train generative A.I.
ProRata claims it has created an algorithm that can review an A.I.-generated output, identify the source of information based on novel facts and textual styles, and calculate how much each source contributed to the response. These percentages are then used to cut checks to these creators at the end of every month—a model that, in theory, could help protect the livelihoods of creatives and prevent future lawsuits around intellectual property.
“If you don’t share, then creativity is unsustainable. There’s no way for you to make a living,” ProRata’s co-founder and CEO Bill Gross told Observer regarding the careers of artists. Gross is credited as the inventor of the pay-per-click monetization model for internet search with a company he founded in the late 1990s that was later acquired by Yahoo, according to ProRata’s website.
The startup, which raised $25 million from venture capital firms Mayfield Fund, Prime Movers Lab, Revolution Ventures and IdeaLab Studio in a series A funding round in August, is set to showcase the algorithm through an A.I.-powered search engine expected to release in October. Starting at $19 a month, the engine will monetize queries through advertisements and subscription payments, according to Gross. While 50 percent of the revenue generated will go to ProRata, the other half will be split proportionately across creators.
ProRata’s ultimate goal isn’t to create an alternative to Google Search, but to introduce a new business model that search engines could adopt to ensure creators get paid for their contributions to A.I. “We want to make that the industry standard,” Gross said. While A.I. search features from Google and Microsoft’s Bing don’t directly share ad revenue with publishers, they refer users to links from publishers as a way to drive traffic to their sites.
The answer engine will only be trained on data from creators who partner with ProRata. That means the model will draw from a limited amount of data that could potentially compromise the accuracy of outputs. Still, ProRata isn’t focused on making its A.I. search engine a standalone product but rather on having the pay-per-use model adopted by major search engines.
So far, the company has inked deals with publishers like The Atlantic, Fortune, Financial Times, Time, and Axel Springer, the German company that owns Politico and Business Insider. Authors like Walter Isaacson, Adam Grant, and Ian Bremmer have also agreed, as have music industry veterans like Universal Music Group. ProRata hasn’t encountered any resistance or skepticism from its partners yet, according to Gross. “Most people just want us to be wildly successful so they’ll get a paycheck,” the CEO said. The real challenge, he notes, is convincing Big Tech companies who’ve been crawling web data for free to adopt ProRata’s business model.
“It’s amazing to me that some of the people think that crawling is not stealing,” Gross said. “Basically, Mustafa, the CEO of Microsoft A.I., came out and said, ‘Hey, if it’s available on the web, it’s free for us to use.’ And that’s just bullshit,” Gross added, referring to comments made by Google Deepmind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman during a CNBC interview in July when asked if training A.I. models on web content is akin to intellectual property theft. “Just because something is available and visible doesn’t mean it’s open source,” Gross said.
ProRata.ai CEO Bill Gross. Andres Castaneda
Paying creators may be a temporary “Band-Aid” solution
Financial compensation may not fully address the ethical concerns of having a creator’s work used for A.I. training without explicit permission, according to Star Kashman, a tech lawyer and partner at Cyber Law Firm with expertise in digital copyright law. She cites actress Scarlett Johansson as an example, who allegedly refused to give OpenAI permission to use her voice for ChatGPT despite financial offers.
“Many authors and creators have personal, moral objections to their work being utilized for A.I. training, regardless of compensation,” Kashman told Observer. “Without explicit permission, paying creators may be a temporary ‘Band-Aid’ solution, but it may not be an all-encompassing resolution to deeper concerns about consent and the impact on creative works.”
The “pay-per-use” model could also potentially lead to a new crop of legal issues. Creators may disagree over whether the payment they receive “accurately reflects”what they contributed to the A.I. systems, especially if they can’t set their own rates, Kashman said. Moreover, A.I. tools may favor the work of bigger, more established creators over smaller ones even if their content is more relevant to a particular query, similar to how search engine optimization (SEO) works. Compensation may also not fully protect A.I. companies from being sued for intellectual property theft, which she said could be easier to prove in court with concrete attribution.
“There will continue to be many IP cases until the Copyright Act is amended to allow scraping on copyrighted content for the purposes of training LLMs,” Gabriel Vincent, another partner at Cyber Law Firm, told Observer, echoing Kashman’s comments.
ProRata has plans to diversify its model to include more than just text. After the October launch, the startup will focus on collaborating with music companies, according to Gross. He also hopes to collaborate with video and movie brands as well as smaller, independent creators and plans to license its attribution technology to A.I. companies that can implement it into their own models.
“A.I. is so amazing, but it needs to be fair to all parties,” Gross said.
As more and more movies seem to be returning to the past as a means to avoid how conflict-free a script can become thanks to modern technology, Fly Me to the Moon is among the latest to join the ranks of recent “period pieces”—which, technically, even extends to a movie like Longlegs. The Rose Gilroy-written film goes slightly further back than the latter though, taking audiences to 1969, in the months leading up to the hype and anticipation of surrounding the moon landing.
In Gilroy’s narrative (directed by Greg Berlanti), all the buildup and excitement are a result of Kelly Jones’ (Scarlett Johansson) sudden involvement, tapped by a shadowy government operative named Moe Berkus (Woody Harrelson) to work the previously nonexistent “PR angle” of the project. After all, the U.S. was in a dark time (as usual), with constantly-playing, harrowing images from the Vietnam War on the news, in addition to the rash of assassinations and protests turned violent by police subjugation.
It’s with this in mind that Jones, a “shark” of an ad agency “man,” views the moon landing as an opportunity to refocus the public’s attention on something more positive. To see, once again, the “promise” of America and its potential (sort of like Beyoncé with her Olympics commercial). Not to mention reminding various Congress members that there was once a time when John F. Kennedy’s “greatest wish” (apart from fucking as many women as possible) was also theirs—as opposed to a bane to their other, more pressing budgetary concerns. Of course, it’s easy to support a lofty goal when it’s hot off the presses of relating to a collective American fear: “losing” to the Russians (a.k.a. letting communists dominate the Space Race). A peak concern (not that it still isn’t) during this period in U.S. history, when the Cold War incited manifold actions that were often dubious in nature.
As for Kelly, she’s been described as a Don Draper type (call her Don Draper with a pussy instead of a pair) mixed with a dash of Frank Abagnale Jr. (as rendered by Leonardo DiCaprio in Catch Me If You Can). Gilroy (who, yes, is related to the writer Gilroys, Dan [her father], Tony [her uncle] and Frank D. [her grandfather]—in addition to being the daughter of Rene Russo) herself told The Hollywood Reporter, “Don Draper was absolutely a part of the conversation. Leo’s character in Catch Me If You Can was another character in the conversation. So Don Draper was totally an inspiration, and that scene of Kelly with the belly was actually in the first fifteen pages that I wrote on spec to win the job.”
Kelly’s inherent conning abilities aren’t entirely her fault, of course. In addition to the expected traumatic backstory, being a woman with ambition at that time meant having to play a bit of “hardball” (or “give ’em blue balls,” in her case). In short, acting the way men do all the time, but with far more subtlety about it. Well, sort of.
If you asked Cole Davis (Channing Tatum), the launch director for Apollo 11 at Kennedy Space Center, he wouldn’t say Kelly was subtle at all. In fact, he’d probably say she was about as subtle as a rocket launch. But before he finds out that she’s the “PR girl” from New York, Kelly very nearly launches his rocket when they first meet at Wolfie’s Restaurant—an institution on the Cocoa Beach scene. The two have a quintessential meet-cute (befitting of the era that Fly Me to the Moon is set in) involving Kelly setting her notebook on fire without being aware of it.
Because the two already shared a flirtatious glance, when Cole approaches to tell her, “Uh, Miss, you’re on fire,” she replies, “Very original. No, I do not wanna stop, drop and roll with you.” But of course she does. And Cole himself makes no secret about being attracted to her, confessing as much before saying that despite this, he can’t pursue such feelings. He then leaves Wolfie’s, assuming he’ll never run into her again. Naturally, what makes a complete, truly effective meet-cute is a case of mistaken or unknown identity. Hence, when Kelly walks into Kennedy Space Center soon after their initial meeting, Cole is suddenly much less charmed (even though one can imagine Kelly wielding the Gracie Hart [Sandra Bullock] taunt, “You think I’m gorgeous, you want to kiss me, you want to hug me”).
With the crux of the film’s “chutzpah” coming from the way they increasingly butt heads, by the end of the second act, that shtick gives way to a different “problem” angle for the film: Moe tasks Kelly with creating a fake version of the moon landing (and yes, Stanley Kubrick is alluded to as a potential director) in case things don’t quite work out with the real deal (a faulty transmission, etc.). Obviously, this is only going to contribute to the pile of lies she’s told to Cole, therefore making it even harder for him to accept her when the truth comes out (sort of like Josie Geller [Drew Barrymore] with Sam Coulson [Michael Vartan] in Never Been Kissed).
Eventually, her conscience gets the better of her, and she decides to confess what’s going on to Cole after she’s already gotten a diva-rific director, Lance Vespertine (Jim Rash), from her former agency to create the footage. The reaction is as expected, with the usual third-act waiting period for Cole to finally come around. But Fly Me to the Moon, in the end, isn’t as much about a budding romance between two people as it is about America’s budding romance with conspiracy theories in the modern era. Particularly as the Nixon administration would go on to prove that mistrust in institutions ought to be the norm, not the exception. A conviction that’s only become more fortified in the decades since Watergate.
Fly Me to the Moon offers a “light-hearted romp” with a conspiracy theory-related narrative as the backdrop, but, more often than not, it’s pretty much impossible to make light of the behaviors that stem from staunch conspiracy theorists (see: Pizzagate, the 2020 election was “stolen” and anything else related to QAnon). In this regard, Fly Me to the Moon truly does feel like a 60s-era film in that it gives the viewer enough credit to assume they’ll have a sense of humor about this sort of thing rather than taking it all too seriously.
Animation continue to the be hero of the summer office thanks to Despicable Me 4 andInside Out 2, but Neon‘s Longlegs can rightly take a bow after scoring the biggest opening for an independent horror pic in a decade with $22.6 million in ticket sales.
From Illumination and Universal, DM4 easily stayed atop the domestic box office chart in its second weekend with $44.7 million from 4,449 theaters as it jumped the $200 million mark to finish Sunday with a North American tally of $211.1 million. Overseas, Gru and the mischievous Minions also continued to stir up strong sales, earning $88 million from 78 markets for a foreign tally of $226.7 million and $437.8 million globally.
In a notable milestone, the Despicable Me/Minions franchise has crossed $5 billion mark in global ticket sales, a feat no animated franchise has achieved before. (Earlier this week, Illumination announced that a Minions 3 is in the works.)
The big surprise of the weekend is the better-than-expected performance of writer-director Osgood Perkins Longlegs, a serial killer chiller starring Maika Monroe and Nicolas Cage. The tense FBI procedural, playing in 2,510 cinemas, is the biggest opening ever for Tom Quinn‘s Oscar-winning specialty production and distribution outfit Neon, home of Parasite.
Among other records, it’s Cage’s biggest opening since National Treasure: Book of Secrets almost twenty years ago in 2007. It’s also the top R-rated opening of 2024 to date. And it is the only indie horror film of the past decade to open to $20 million or more (this excludes one of the Insidious movies from Focus Features/Universal).
Going back as far as 25 years, Neon also notes that very few indie films have crossed the $20 million threshold in their debut. For purposes of context, however, many indie titles — including Neon releases — only open a few theaters, versus rolling out nationwide from the get-go as Longlegs did.
The well-reviewed movie earned $10 million on Friday alone, including previews, and wasn’t hampered by a C+ Cinemascore, since it’s common for the horror genre to land a grade in the C range. Fun fact: More than 70 percent of ticket buyers were between ages 18 and 34.
The record-shattering Inside Out 2 — which has a shot at becoming the top-grossing animated film of all time — finished Sunday with a global cume of $1.35 billion. It’s already become the top-grossing Pixar title of all time and the third biggest animated title, not adjusted for inflation. The film has helped propel Disney become the first major studio to cross the $2 billion mark in 2024 global ticket sales.
In North America, Inside Out 2 came in third in its fifth weekend with $20.8 million for a domestic tally of $572.6 million. Overseas, it earned another $50.2 million from 47 markets for a foreign cume of $777.5 million. It has yet to open in Japan, where it could do sizeable business.
Paramount’s holdover A Quiet Place: Day One continues to entice moviegoers and placed fourth despite the entry of Longlegs. The prequel scared up another $11.8 million this weekend from 3,378 theaters for a domestic total of $116.2 million through Sunday.
Apple Original Films‘ continues its theatrical ambitions with the release of director Greg Berlanti’s Fly Me to the Moon, a romantic comedy starring Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum. The period space-age movie, distributed by Sony on behalf of Apple, opened to a subdued $10 million from 3,356 sites to place No. 5. The number isn’t a surprise considering the film was fueled by older adults; more than half of ticket buyers were 45 or older, including 32 percent over the age of 55.
The movie has earned meh reviews, but audiences were kinder in bestowing the older-skewing film an A- CinemaScore. Reviews matter more to older moviegoers, upon whom Berlanti’s film is relying, but Apple and Sony believe the film will have long legs, similar to Ticket to Paradise, which opened to $16.5 million domestically on its way to topping out at $68 million, and Where the Crawdads Sing, which opened to $17.7 million and topped out at $90 million domestic.
At the specialty box office, new offerings include A24‘s Sing Sing, which is on course to score a solid per-theater average of $34,280 or thereabouts from four theaters in Los Angeles and New York. The film, from director Greg Kwedar, chronicles an arts program at the infamous Sing Sing prison.
July 14, 7:45 a.m. Updated with revised estimates.
This story was originally published July 13 at 10:16 a.m.
As Scarlett Johansson begins filming the latest installment of Universal’s enduring dino-centric action-adventure, she received a warm welcome to Jurassic World from franchise veteran Jeff Goldblum.
Johansson, who recently outed herself as a “huge nerd” for all things Jurassic Park and Jurassic World appeared on NBC’s Today on Tuesday morning to promote her new romantic comedy, Fly Me to the Moon. As the interview with host Savannah Guthrie concluded, the Avengers star was informed that “somebody wanted to welcome you aboard to the team.”
Johansson appeared slightly perplexed but that quickly turned to a delightful smile when a video of Goldblum was played on air.
“Dr Johansson, this is Jeff Goldblum,” the veteran actor, donning his trademark glasses and a dinosaur sweater, says to the camera. “Here’s what I want to say to you. This I know: Scarlett will find a way. Don’t get eaten, unless you want to. I love you.”
Goldblum’s reference here is to the classic line, “Life finds a way,” which he delivered in 1993’s franchise launching Jurassic Park. In the beloved blockbuster, Goldblum portrays Dr. Ian Malcolm, a mathematician who along with a paleontologist and paleobotanist, finds himself fleeing cloned dinosaurs as they run amok at a new amusement park on a remote Central American island. The Ian character became iconic for both Goldblum and the franchise; he repeated the role in The Lost World and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.
Johansson, seemingly stunned by the personal video from a star of one of her favorite films, gushes, “I mean, I think my life is complete. It’s done. Yes… done. I can retire. Oh my gosh!” The actor also politely corrected Guthrie’s misstatement of the line when she recalled it as “water finds a way.”
In a recent interview with Comicbook.com, Johansson said that it’s been a decade-long struggle to get into the Jurassic franchise, which after three Jurassic Park films in the 1990s, was rebooted in 2015 with Jurassic World, set 22 years after the first trilogy concluded. The movie took in $1.6 billion globally and spawned franchise entries Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018) and Jurassic World Dominion (2022). The Johansson-led fourth entry into the franchise is scheduled for 2025.
On Today, Johansson recalled that Jurassic Park was her first theater-going movie experience as a child.
“I was probably 10 or 11, and it was absolutely transformative for me,” she said. “The experience was — we had never seen anything like that, CGI used in that way. And when you see it, it still holds up. I mean, it looks so great. It’s like magic. … The actors were so amazing: Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum. And it had so much heart.”
Filmmaker Gareth Edwards (Rogue One) is directing the upcoming Jurassic World entry. In addition to casting Johansson in the lead role, it will star Jonathan Bailey, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Rupert Friend, Mahershala Ali, Luna Blaise, David Iacono and newcomer Audrina Miranda. Screenwriter David Koepp, who scripted Jurassic Park and its sequel, The Lost World, has returned to write this installment.
Apple Studio’s new movie starring Channing Tatum and Scarlett Johansson, as well as rising star Donald Elise Watkins, is almost here. With only a few days left before its release, many fans are looking forward to see these two talented artists in a romantic comedy movie set in the 1960s. Set to be released on July 12, 2024 in theaters nationwide and on Apple TV+ at a later date, fans (including us) can’t wait to see Tatum and Johansson and their chemistry in their first-ever movie together.
After its theater release, it will only be available on Apple TV+. No announcements have been made yet if it will be available on other platforms such as Netflix, Disney+, Sling TV, Go Latino TV, Hulu, and others. But we’ve got high hopes for this movie, so hopefully, it’ll be available on other platforms as well in the future.
Plot
NASA’s stressed launch director, Cole Davis needs a perfect Apollo 11 moon landing. Then, there’s Kelly Jones, a marketing genius who has thought of unconventional ways to boost NASA’s image. However, Cole isn’t buying her ideas. Things get even trickier when Kelly gets a secret mission: plan a fake moon landing just in case the Apollo 11 fails.
The premise itself is already chaotic, so it’s really exciting to see the entire story. High hopes that this movie will be available on different platforms as we’ve mentioned earlier, including Dish Network and other TV services. Many people would love that. Check out the trailer below:
Release Date
North America isn’t the only one who’s going to enjoy this movie in the theaters. After the successful partnership with Sony Pictures, the movie will also be distributed in other countries. Here’s the release dates for other locations:
South Africa – July 5, 2024
France and Belgium – July 10, 2024
Australia, Brazil, Germany, Italy, and Mexico – July 11, 2024
United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Spain, and Poland – July 12, 2024
As for the other parts of the world, there’s no announcement yet, but if it’s not going to be showed in your local theater, you can just wait for it to be available on Apple TV+. Just make sure that you have a fast internet connection like HughesNet and other reputable internet when streaming it so you can enjoy the entire movie without interruptions.
Fly Me to the Moon Cast
The entire cast is a bit surprising for us. But aside from Tatum and Johansson, the supporting cast of Fly Me to the Moon is actually equally impressive. Here’s a sneak peek at everyone who joins them on their journey to the moon, as what they say:
Channing Tatum as Cole Davis
Scarlet Johansson as Kelly Jones
Woody Harrelson as Moe Berkus
Donald Elise Watkins
Jim Rash as Lance
Ray Romano as Henry Smalls
Peter Jacobson as Chuck Meadows
Bill Barrett as Cole Impersonator
Christian Clemenson as Press Agent Walter
Kylee Nicole Peck as VIP Spectator
Colin Woodell
Greg Kriek
Fly Me to the Moon on Theaters This July 2024
Mark your calendars for the newest Apple movie starring Channing Tatum and Scarlett Johansson. With an incredible supporting cast and a hilarious premise, we’re pretty confident that this film will be a success. Since it’s these two Hollywood A-listers’ first movie together, we can’t wait to see their chemistry on screen, even though their characters are bound to clash in ways more than one. Don’t miss your chance to catch it on the big screen this July!
Actor Scarlett Johansson has accused OpenAI of copying her voice for one of the voice assisstants in ChatGPT despite denying the company permission to do so. Johansson’s statement on Monday came hours after OpenAI said that the company would no longer use the voice in ChatGPT but did not provide a reason why.
“Last September, I received an offer from Sam Altman, who wanted to hire me to voice the current ChatGPT 4.0 system,” Johansson wrote in the statement that was first shared with NPR. “He told me that he felt that by my voicing the system, I could bridge the gap between tech companies and creatives and help consumers to feel comfortable with the seismic shift concerning humans and AI. He said he felt that my voice would be comforting to people.” Johansson added that she declined the offer after “much consideration and for personal reasons,” but when OpenAI demoed GPT-4o, the company’s latest large language model last week, “my friends, family, and the general public all noted how much the newest system named ’Sky’ sounded like me.”
When Johansson saw OpenAI’s newest demo, she said she was “shocked, angered and in disbelief that Mr. Altman would pursue a voice that sounded so eerily similar to mind that my closest friends and news outlets could not tell the difference.” She also revealed that Altman had contacted her agent just two days before the company revealed GPT-4o and asked her to reconsider, but released the system anyway before she had a chance to respond.
“The voice of Sky is not Scarlett Johansson’s, and it was never intended to resemble hers,” an OpenAI spokesperson said in a statement sent to Engadget that the company attributed to Altman, OpenAI’s co-founder and CEO. “We cast the voice actor behind Sky’s voice before any outreach to Ms. Johansson. Out of respect for Ms. Johansson, we have paused using Sky’s voice in our products. We are sorry to Ms. Johansson that we didn’t communicate better.”
Even though “Sky” has been one of the voice assisstants in ChatGPT since September 2023, GPT-4o, which the company announced last week, takes things a step further. The company said that the new model is closer to “much more natural human-computer interaction” and demoed its executives having nearly human-like conversations with the voice assistant in ChatGPT. This invited comparisons to Samantha, the virtual voice assistant played by Johansson in the 2013 movie Her who has an intimate relationship with a human being. Shortly after the event, Altman tweeted a single word — “her” — in an apparent reference to the film.
On Monday, OpenAI said that it was pausing the use of “Sky” in ChatGPT and released a lengthy post revealing how the company hired professional voice actors to create its own virtual assistants, and denying any similarities with Johansson’s voice.
“We believe that AI voices should not deliberately mimic a celebrity’s distinctive voice — Sky’s voice is not an imitation of Scarlett Johansson but belongs to a different professional actress using her own natural speaking voice,” OpenAI wrote and added that each of its performers, who it declined to name for privacy reasons, was paid “above top-of-market rates, and this will continue for as long as their voices are used in our products.”
This move, Johansson said in her statement, only came after she hired legal counsel who wrote two letters to Altman and OpenAI asking for an explanation. “In a time when we are all grappling with deepfakes and the protection of our own likeness, our own work, our own identities, I believe these are questions that deserve absolute clarity,” Johansson wrote. “I look forward to resolution in the form of transparency and the passage of appropriate legislation to help ensure that individual rights are protected.”
Update, May 20 2024, 9:09 PM ET: This story has been updated to include a statement from OpenAI.
Just want her back. Photo: Warner Bros./Everett Collection
ChatGPT better keep Colin Jost’s wife’s voice out of its mouth. The OpenAI voice “Sky,” which sounded eerily similar to Scarlett Johansson’s in the movie Her, was suspended on May 20. “We’ve heard questions about how we chose the voices in ChatGPT, especially Sky,” OpenAI posted on Twitter. “We are working to pause the use of Sky while we address them.” In Her, Johansson played an AI named Samantha that Joaquin Phoenix’s Theodore falls in love with. In a blog post further explaining the situation, the company said that “Sky’s voice is not an imitation of Scarlett Johansson but belongs to a different professional actress using her own natural speaking voice.” Given that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman tweeted solely the word “Her” on May 13, that does not seem super-feasible, but hey, whatever you say, guys.
Later that same day, Johansson released a statement revealing that Altman reached out twice, asking her to voice the AI herself, but she declined. She explained in the statement, “He told me that he felt that by my voicing the system, I could bridge the gap between tech companies and creatives and help consumers to feel comfortable with the seismic shift concerning humans and Al… Two days before the ChatGPT 4.0 demo was released, Mr. Altman contacted my agent, asking me to reconsider. Before we could connect, the system was out there.” Maybe next time, they should make Hal 9000.
There’s a new human entering the Jurassic World franchise, and he’s gonna be fighting for his life in this new film.
Exclusive Jurassic World Dominion Bonus Feature Clip
Per Deadline, actor Manuel Garcia-Rulfo—best known for The Magnificent Seven’s 2016 reboot and Netflix’s The Lincoln Lawyer—has signed on for a starring role. (Sadly, he probably won’t be a public defender for dinosaurs or a dinosaur cowboy, two things this franchise could use.) Details on his character are currently under wraps, but he joins Scarlett Johansson and Jonathan Bailey in the Gareth Edwards-directed film. For Garcia-Rulfo, who’s also headlining Netflix’s PedroPáramo, this marks his biggest film role to date.
Unlike the last Jurassic trilogy, this new flick doesn’t plan to bring back any returning actors from the previous runs like Chris Pratt or Laura Dern. At the moment, it’s not even fully clear what this’ll be about beyond the general premise of humans running away from dinosaurs that want to eat them. Written by Jurassic alum David Koepp, the movie’s been previously described as a “fresh take” on the material, whose last installment was Jurassic World: Dominion back in 2022. It’s expected to start filming in the UK in June, then in Malta from July all the way to September.
Jurassic World 4 is currently dated to come out on July 2, 2025. (A busy month that’ll be, between that, Superman, and The Fantastic Four.) We’ll have more news on the film as things develops.
If there’s one thing we know about Vice President Kamala Harris is that she loves to laugh. So it’s tough to imagine a better night for the chuckling veep than the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, where Colin Jost headlined with pretty tame jokes about Donald Trump’s trial, President Biden’s age, and his wife Scarlett Johansson. He kicked off his set by thanking the dais, including the Vice President and “Doug,” adding, “Doug, as you can tell from all the comments about my wife, I’m also used to being the Second Gentleman.” He circled back to the ScarJo elephant in the room at the end of his remarks, saying, “I want to thank my wife for agreeing to individually meet everybody in this room right after the ceremony. Don’t be shy, come right up. She hates privacy.”
When it came to politics, Jost narrowed in on the 2024 candidates’ advanced ages, joking, “I’m not saying both candidates are old, but you know Jimmy Carter is out there thinking, ‘I can maybe win this thing.’” He also joked that while it might not be a great time to be a print journalist, it’s a phenomenal time to be a courtroom sketch artist in light of Trump’s trial. “Every sketch of Trump looks like the Grinch had sex with the Lorax,” he said. Another target included Lara Trump, who was in attendance fresh off the release of her Tom Petty cover, about which Jost said, “Upon hearing it, Tom Petty died again.” He also joked that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. would be our third Catholic president, before adding, “I’m kidding, like his vaccine card says, he doesn’t have a shot.” There were a few cutaways to the Vice President throughout the evening, doing what she does best, laughing up a storm.
An election-year roast of President Joe Biden before journalists, celebrities and politicians at the annual White House correspondents’ dinner Saturday butted up against growing public discord over the Israel-Hamas war, with protests outside the event condemning both Biden’s handling of the conflict and the Western news’ media coverage of it. In previous years, Biden, like most of his predecessors, has used the glitzy annual White House Correspondents’ Association gala to needle media coverage of his administration and jab at political rivals, notably Republican rival Donald Trump. With hundreds of protesters rallying against the war in Gaza outside the event and concerns over the conflict and humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the perils for journalists covering the conflict, the war hung over this year’s event. “Shame on you!” protesters draped in the traditional Palestinian keffiyeh cloth shouted, running after men in tuxedos and suits and women in long dresses who were holding clutch purses as guests hurried inside for the dinner.Chants accused U.S. journalists of undercovering the war and misrepresenting it. “Western media we see you, and all the horrors that you hide,” crowds chanted at one point.Other protesters lay sprawled motionless on the pavement, next to mock-ups of flak vests with “press” insignia.Ralliers cried “Free, free Palestine.” They cheered when at one point someone inside the Washington Hilton — where the dinner has been held for decades — unfurled a Palestinian flag from a top-floor hotel window. Criticism of the Biden administration’s support for Israel’s six-month-old military offensive in Gaza has spread through American college campuses, with students pitching encampments in an effort to force their universities to divest from Israel. Counterprotests back Israel’s offensive and complain of antisemitism. Biden’s motorcade Saturday took an alternate route from the White House to the Washington Hilton than in previous years, largely avoiding the crowds of demonstrators.Biden’s speech before an expected crowd of nearly 3,000 people was being followed by entertainer Colin Jost from “Saturday Night Live.”Kelly O’Donnell, president of the correspondents’ association, opened the event by reminding the audience of the important work that journalists do but noting that the dinner is happening at “a complex moment for our nation,” and in a decisive election year.The night’s remarks also were expected to cast a spotlight on the many journalists detained and otherwise persecuted around the globe for doing their jobs, including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who has been imprisoned in Russia since March 2023. Law enforcement, including the Secret Service, have instituted extra street closures and other measures to ensure what Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said would be the “highest levels of safety and security for attendees.”The agency was working with Washington police to protect demonstrators’ right to assemble, Guglielmi said. However, “we will remain intolerant to any violent or destructive behavior.” Protest organizers said they wanted to bring attention to the high numbers of Palestinian and other Arab journalists killed by Israel’s military since the war began in October. More than two dozen journalists in Gaza wrote a letter last week calling on their colleagues in Washington to boycott the dinner altogether. “The toll exacted on us for merely fulfilling our journalistic duties is staggering,” the letter states. “We are subjected to detentions, interrogations, and torture by the Israeli military, all for the ‘crime’ of journalistic integrity.”One organizer complained that the White House Correspondents’ Association — which represents the hundreds of journalists who cover the president — largely has been silent since the first weeks of the war about the killings of Palestinian journalists. WHCA did not respond to request for comment. According to a preliminary investigation released Friday by the Committee to Protect Journalists, nearly 100 journalists have been killed covering the war in Gaza. Israel has defended its actions, saying it has been targeting militants. “Since the Israel-Gaza war began, journalists have been paying the highest price— their lives—to defend our right to the truth. Each time a journalist dies or is injured, we lose a fragment of that truth,” CPJ Program Director Carlos Martínez de la Serna said in a statement. Sandra Tamari, executive director of Adalah Justice Project, a U.S.-based Palestinian advocacy group that helped organize the letter from journalists in Gaza, said “it is shameful for the media to dine and laugh with President Biden while he enables the Israeli devastation and starvation of Palestinians in Gaza.” In addition, Adalah Justice Project started an email campaign targeting 12 media executives at various news outlets — including The Associated Press — expected to attend the dinner who previously signed onto a letter calling for the protection of journalists in Gaza.”How can you still go when your colleagues in Gaza asked you not to?” a demonstrator asked guests heading in. “You are complicit.”Associated Press writers Mike Balsamo, Aamer Madhani and Fatima Hussein contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON —
An election-year roast of President Joe Biden before journalists, celebrities and politicians at the annual White House correspondents’ dinner Saturday butted up against growing public discord over the Israel-Hamas war, with protests outside the event condemning both Biden’s handling of the conflict and the Western news’ media coverage of it.
In previous years, Biden, like most of his predecessors, has used the glitzy annual White House Correspondents’ Association gala to needle media coverage of his administration and jab at political rivals, notably Republican rival Donald Trump.
With hundreds of protesters rallying against the war in Gaza outside the event and concerns over the conflict and humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the perils for journalists covering the conflict, the war hung over this year’s event.
“Shame on you!” protesters draped in the traditional Palestinian keffiyeh cloth shouted, running after men in tuxedos and suits and women in long dresses who were holding clutch purses as guests hurried inside for the dinner.
Chants accused U.S. journalists of undercovering the war and misrepresenting it. “Western media we see you, and all the horrors that you hide,” crowds chanted at one point.
Other protesters lay sprawled motionless on the pavement, next to mock-ups of flak vests with “press” insignia.
Ralliers cried “Free, free Palestine.” They cheered when at one point someone inside the Washington Hilton — where the dinner has been held for decades — unfurled a Palestinian flag from a top-floor hotel window.
Criticism of the Biden administration’s support for Israel’s six-month-old military offensive in Gaza has spread through American college campuses, with students pitching encampments in an effort to force their universities to divest from Israel. Counterprotests back Israel’s offensive and complain of antisemitism.
Biden’s motorcade Saturday took an alternate route from the White House to the Washington Hilton than in previous years, largely avoiding the crowds of demonstrators.
Biden’s speech before an expected crowd of nearly 3,000 people was being followed by entertainer Colin Jost from “Saturday Night Live.”
Kelly O’Donnell, president of the correspondents’ association, opened the event by reminding the audience of the important work that journalists do but noting that the dinner is happening at “a complex moment for our nation,” and in a decisive election year.
The night’s remarks also were expected to cast a spotlight on the many journalists detained and otherwise persecuted around the globe for doing their jobs, including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who has been imprisoned in Russia since March 2023.
Law enforcement, including the Secret Service, have instituted extra street closures and other measures to ensure what Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said would be the “highest levels of safety and security for attendees.”
The agency was working with Washington police to protect demonstrators’ right to assemble, Guglielmi said. However, “we will remain intolerant to any violent or destructive behavior.”
Protest organizers said they wanted to bring attention to the high numbers of Palestinian and other Arab journalists killed by Israel’s military since the war began in October.
More than two dozen journalists in Gaza wrote a letter last week calling on their colleagues in Washington to boycott the dinner altogether.
“The toll exacted on us for merely fulfilling our journalistic duties is staggering,” the letter states. “We are subjected to detentions, interrogations, and torture by the Israeli military, all for the ‘crime’ of journalistic integrity.”
One organizer complained that the White House Correspondents’ Association — which represents the hundreds of journalists who cover the president — largely has been silent since the first weeks of the war about the killings of Palestinian journalists. WHCA did not respond to request for comment.
According to a preliminary investigation released Friday by the Committee to Protect Journalists, nearly 100 journalists have been killed covering the war in Gaza. Israel has defended its actions, saying it has been targeting militants.
“Since the Israel-Gaza war began, journalists have been paying the highest price— their lives—to defend our right to the truth. Each time a journalist dies or is injured, we lose a fragment of that truth,” CPJ Program Director Carlos Martínez de la Serna said in a statement.
Sandra Tamari, executive director of Adalah Justice Project, a U.S.-based Palestinian advocacy group that helped organize the letter from journalists in Gaza, said “it is shameful for the media to dine and laugh with President Biden while he enables the Israeli devastation and starvation of Palestinians in Gaza.”
In addition, Adalah Justice Project started an email campaign targeting 12 media executives at various news outlets — including The Associated Press — expected to attend the dinner who previously signed onto a letter calling for the protection of journalists in Gaza.
“How can you still go when your colleagues in Gaza asked you not to?” a demonstrator asked guests heading in. “You are complicit.”
Associated Press writers Mike Balsamo, Aamer Madhani and Fatima Hussein contributed to this report.
An election-year roast of President Joe Biden before journalists, celebrities and politicians at the annual White House correspondents’ dinner Saturday butted up against growing public discord over the Israel-Hamas war, with protests outside the event condemning both Biden’s handling of the conflict and the Western news’ media coverage of it. In previous years, Biden, like most of his predecessors, has used the glitzy annual White House Correspondents’ Association gala to needle media coverage of his administration and jab at political rivals, notably Republican rival Donald Trump. With hundreds of protesters rallying against the war in Gaza outside the event and concerns over the conflict and humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the perils for journalists covering the conflict, the war hung over this year’s event. “Shame on you!” protesters draped in the traditional Palestinian keffiyeh cloth shouted, running after men in tuxedos and suits and women in long dresses who were holding clutch purses as guests hurried inside for the dinner.Chants accused U.S. journalists of undercovering the war and misrepresenting it. “Western media we see you, and all the horrors that you hide,” crowds chanted at one point.Other protesters lay sprawled motionless on the pavement, next to mock-ups of flak vests with “press” insignia.Ralliers cried “Free, free Palestine.” They cheered when at one point someone inside the Washington Hilton — where the dinner has been held for decades — unfurled a Palestinian flag from a top-floor hotel window. Criticism of the Biden administration’s support for Israel’s six-month-old military offensive in Gaza has spread through American college campuses, with students pitching encampments in an effort to force their universities to divest from Israel. Counterprotests back Israel’s offensive and complain of antisemitism. Biden’s motorcade Saturday took an alternate route from the White House to the Washington Hilton than in previous years, largely avoiding the crowds of demonstrators.Biden’s speech before an expected crowd of nearly 3,000 people was being followed by entertainer Colin Jost from “Saturday Night Live.”Kelly O’Donnell, president of the correspondents’ association, opened the event by reminding the audience of the important work that journalists do but noting that the dinner is happening at “a complex moment for our nation,” and in a decisive election year.The night’s remarks also were expected to cast a spotlight on the many journalists detained and otherwise persecuted around the globe for doing their jobs, including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who has been imprisoned in Russia since March 2023. Law enforcement, including the Secret Service, have instituted extra street closures and other measures to ensure what Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said would be the “highest levels of safety and security for attendees.”The agency was working with Washington police to protect demonstrators’ right to assemble, Guglielmi said. However, “we will remain intolerant to any violent or destructive behavior.” Protest organizers said they wanted to bring attention to the high numbers of Palestinian and other Arab journalists killed by Israel’s military since the war began in October. More than two dozen journalists in Gaza wrote a letter last week calling on their colleagues in Washington to boycott the dinner altogether. “The toll exacted on us for merely fulfilling our journalistic duties is staggering,” the letter states. “We are subjected to detentions, interrogations, and torture by the Israeli military, all for the ‘crime’ of journalistic integrity.”One organizer complained that the White House Correspondents’ Association — which represents the hundreds of journalists who cover the president — largely has been silent since the first weeks of the war about the killings of Palestinian journalists. WHCA did not respond to request for comment. According to a preliminary investigation released Friday by the Committee to Protect Journalists, nearly 100 journalists have been killed covering the war in Gaza. Israel has defended its actions, saying it has been targeting militants. “Since the Israel-Gaza war began, journalists have been paying the highest price— their lives—to defend our right to the truth. Each time a journalist dies or is injured, we lose a fragment of that truth,” CPJ Program Director Carlos Martínez de la Serna said in a statement. Sandra Tamari, executive director of Adalah Justice Project, a U.S.-based Palestinian advocacy group that helped organize the letter from journalists in Gaza, said “it is shameful for the media to dine and laugh with President Biden while he enables the Israeli devastation and starvation of Palestinians in Gaza.” In addition, Adalah Justice Project started an email campaign targeting 12 media executives at various news outlets — including The Associated Press — expected to attend the dinner who previously signed onto a letter calling for the protection of journalists in Gaza.”How can you still go when your colleagues in Gaza asked you not to?” a demonstrator asked guests heading in. “You are complicit.”Associated Press writers Mike Balsamo, Aamer Madhani and Fatima Hussein contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON —
An election-year roast of President Joe Biden before journalists, celebrities and politicians at the annual White House correspondents’ dinner Saturday butted up against growing public discord over the Israel-Hamas war, with protests outside the event condemning both Biden’s handling of the conflict and the Western news’ media coverage of it.
In previous years, Biden, like most of his predecessors, has used the glitzy annual White House Correspondents’ Association gala to needle media coverage of his administration and jab at political rivals, notably Republican rival Donald Trump.
With hundreds of protesters rallying against the war in Gaza outside the event and concerns over the conflict and humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the perils for journalists covering the conflict, the war hung over this year’s event.
“Shame on you!” protesters draped in the traditional Palestinian keffiyeh cloth shouted, running after men in tuxedos and suits and women in long dresses who were holding clutch purses as guests hurried inside for the dinner.
Chants accused U.S. journalists of undercovering the war and misrepresenting it. “Western media we see you, and all the horrors that you hide,” crowds chanted at one point.
Other protesters lay sprawled motionless on the pavement, next to mock-ups of flak vests with “press” insignia.
Ralliers cried “Free, free Palestine.” They cheered when at one point someone inside the Washington Hilton — where the dinner has been held for decades — unfurled a Palestinian flag from a top-floor hotel window.
Criticism of the Biden administration’s support for Israel’s six-month-old military offensive in Gaza has spread through American college campuses, with students pitching encampments in an effort to force their universities to divest from Israel. Counterprotests back Israel’s offensive and complain of antisemitism.
Biden’s motorcade Saturday took an alternate route from the White House to the Washington Hilton than in previous years, largely avoiding the crowds of demonstrators.
Biden’s speech before an expected crowd of nearly 3,000 people was being followed by entertainer Colin Jost from “Saturday Night Live.”
Kelly O’Donnell, president of the correspondents’ association, opened the event by reminding the audience of the important work that journalists do but noting that the dinner is happening at “a complex moment for our nation,” and in a decisive election year.
The night’s remarks also were expected to cast a spotlight on the many journalists detained and otherwise persecuted around the globe for doing their jobs, including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who has been imprisoned in Russia since March 2023.
Law enforcement, including the Secret Service, have instituted extra street closures and other measures to ensure what Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said would be the “highest levels of safety and security for attendees.”
The agency was working with Washington police to protect demonstrators’ right to assemble, Guglielmi said. However, “we will remain intolerant to any violent or destructive behavior.”
Protest organizers said they wanted to bring attention to the high numbers of Palestinian and other Arab journalists killed by Israel’s military since the war began in October.
More than two dozen journalists in Gaza wrote a letter last week calling on their colleagues in Washington to boycott the dinner altogether.
“The toll exacted on us for merely fulfilling our journalistic duties is staggering,” the letter states. “We are subjected to detentions, interrogations, and torture by the Israeli military, all for the ‘crime’ of journalistic integrity.”
One organizer complained that the White House Correspondents’ Association — which represents the hundreds of journalists who cover the president — largely has been silent since the first weeks of the war about the killings of Palestinian journalists. WHCA did not respond to request for comment.
According to a preliminary investigation released Friday by the Committee to Protect Journalists, nearly 100 journalists have been killed covering the war in Gaza. Israel has defended its actions, saying it has been targeting militants.
“Since the Israel-Gaza war began, journalists have been paying the highest price— their lives—to defend our right to the truth. Each time a journalist dies or is injured, we lose a fragment of that truth,” CPJ Program Director Carlos Martínez de la Serna said in a statement.
Sandra Tamari, executive director of Adalah Justice Project, a U.S.-based Palestinian advocacy group that helped organize the letter from journalists in Gaza, said “it is shameful for the media to dine and laugh with President Biden while he enables the Israeli devastation and starvation of Palestinians in Gaza.”
In addition, Adalah Justice Project started an email campaign targeting 12 media executives at various news outlets — including The Associated Press — expected to attend the dinner who previously signed onto a letter calling for the protection of journalists in Gaza.
“How can you still go when your colleagues in Gaza asked you not to?” a demonstrator asked guests heading in. “You are complicit.”
Associated Press writers Mike Balsamo, Aamer Madhani and Fatima Hussein contributed to this report.
Peek behind the curtains in a new X-Men ‘97 featurette. Get a look at what’s coming on Halo’s season finale. The Wynonna Earp revival movie has wrapped filming. Plus, meet Inside Out 2‘s new emotions, and Evil Dead Rise’s Lee Cronin is setting up his genre future. To me, my spoilers!
Kara Swisher on All the Nonsense in the Tech Industry
Jurassic World 4
According to a new report from The InSneider newsletter, Universal Pictures has offered Scarlett Johansson the leading role in Jurassic World 4.
The Prisoner
Additionally, Variety suggests Christopher Nolan may follow Oppenheimer with a film adaptation of the 1960’s TV series, The Prisoner—a project the outlet notes the director was formerly “attached to in 2009,” but “the sci-fi project vanished from Nolan’s dance card that same year when AMC released its own The Prisoners, a six-part miniseries led by Jim Caviezel as the ill-fated agent Number Six alongside Ian McKellen and Ruth Wilson.”
Untitled Lee Cronin Projects
THR reports Evil Dead Rise director Lee Cronin “has joined forces with frequent collaborators John Keville and Macdara Kelleher of Wild Atlantic Pictures” to launch Doppelgängers, “a new production outfit focused on genre fare” that’s already signed “a first-look deal with New Line Cinema for its feature film projects.”
Cuckoo
According to Bloody-Disgusting, Tilman Singer’s horror film Cuckoo has been rated “R” for “violence, bloody images, language and brief teen drug use.” Hunter Schafer, Dan Stevens, Jessica Henwick, Marton Csókás, Greta Fernández and Jan Bluthardt star.
Inside Out 2
Disney has released character posters of Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear, Disgust, Anxiety, Ennui, Envy and Embarrassment as they appear in Inside Out 2.
Wynonna Earp: Vengeance
Filming has officially wrapped on the Wynonna Earp revival movie, according to series creator Emily Andras on Instagram.
Ever since Alabama Senator Katie Britt delivered her bizarrely performative Republican response to Biden’s State of the Union, all eyes have been on the inevitable Saturday Night Live takedown of her unhinged speech.
After a brief opening with Mikey Day as Biden, the sketch shifts to Britt’s kitchen response. And SNL didn’t disappoint, recruiting 6-time host (and Mrs. Colin Jost) Scarlett Johansson to play Britt. Johannsson, always a welcome presence on the show, has previously played Ivanka Trump to hilarious effect. Johansson effortlessly channels Britt, from her vocal tics to her high school drama club mood shifts. “Tonight, I’ll be auditioning for the part of Scary Mom,” she says. “And I’ll be performing an original monologue called ‘This Country Is Hell.’”
“You see, I’m not just a senator. I’m a wife, a mother, and the craziest bitch in the Target parking lot,” Johansson said. “I’m worried about the future of our children, and this is why I’ve invited you into this strange, empty kitchen. Because Republicans want me to appeal to women voters, and women love kitchen.”
Johansson effortlessly pivoted from giggly to seductive to tearful to terrifying in her monologue. She also channeled a QVC saleswoman hawking her diamond cross necklace. But underneath Johansson’s performance was a savage takedown of the Republican message: stoking fear of immigrants while disguising prejudice as concern for the children.
“Kitchens are where families have the hard conversations. Like the one we’ll have tomorrow about how mommy freaked out the entire country,” Johansson deadpanned, before breaking out a teacup to re-enact the hypnotism scene from Get Out. Kenan Thompson’s tearful cutaway was just the icing on the cake.
In a season that has struggled with political coverage and lackluster cold opens, Johansson’s performance delivered the strongest political sketch in recent SNL memory. And as we plunge headfirst into election season (ugh) let’s hope that the team at SNL can keep us laughing through the tears.
Chelsea was born and raised in New Orleans, which explains her affinity for cheesy grits and Britney Spears. An pop culture journalist since 2012, her work has appeared on Autostraddle, AfterEllen, and more. Her beats include queer popular culture, film, television, republican clownery, and the unwavering belief that ‘The Long Kiss Goodnight’ is the greatest movie ever made. She currently resides in sunny Los Angeles, with her husband, 2 sons, and one poorly behaved rescue dog. She is a former roller derby girl and a black belt in Judo, so she is not to be trifled with. She loves the word “Jewess” and wishes more people used it to describe her.
Yeoman: It’s very difficult to try to blend comedy and grief in the same scene. Jason was able to portray both things within the scene. We shot it during the middle part of the day in a harsh sunlight. Jason’s angle actually is a little bit backlit at that point, but if you look at the other, the shots of the kids from the side, the side angles, they’re very kind of harshly lit, front-lit, a lot of harsh midday sun. In a movie that Wes isn’t directing, I would be inclined to throw a giant silk up and just try to soften the whole thing out. But Wes wanted to have that feeling. Before we started shooting, we looked at movies, The Bad Day at Black Rock and Paris, Texas, and how they use the sun in those movies to become really a character. They weren’t afraid of shooting at midday, and they weren’t afraid of harsh sun, which is typically, for most cinematographers, something you prefer not to do.
In all honesty, I was a little skeptical about that approach at the beginning, but as I saw more and more of our dailies, I grew to really embrace it and realized that we were creating a world. You’re out in the desert in the middle part of the day. During the digital intermediate in post, we took a little contrast out, and it kind of took a little bit of the edge off that hard light, I think. But again, it was all natural light. I would’ve shot it way later in the day if I was scheduling it, but we kind of wanted to embrace that feeling.
Anderson: I don’t think it’s such harsh sunlight, this scene. I don’t love to have everything be backlit with, I guess, what I look for, is some simplicity in it in terms of the lighting. But to me, Jason’s character and role is the center of the whole movie, and this scene is a crucial one, and so for me, it was just, on the set, I’m just an audience member. Jason was so good playing this scene and so surprising. He’s just so interesting, and so for me, this scene is one of the crucial ones along with the other one with him and Margot Robbie. Those two scenes are the tentpoles of the movie.
