Not that long ago at the Academy Awards, in a galaxy known as Hollywood, spacey stars Oscar Isaac and Kelly Marie Tran joined Luke Skywalker to hand out statues with sass.
"Star Wars: The Last Jedi" didn't get any Academy Award acting nominations, but that didn't mean the space saga didn't have a presence at Sunday night's Oscars.
Stars Mark Hamill, Oscar Isaac, Kelly Marie Tran and BB-8 all gathered in Hollywood's Dolby Theatre galaxy to present the awards for best animated feature to "Coco," and best animated short film to "Dear Basketball."
Hamill was a Force-fully fun presenter, dropping a joke about his Jedi retirement plan. "I'm here to pick up my monthly check under the Jedi pension plan," he cracked. "Apparently they never end."
But some thought the Star Wars stars could've shone more brightly.
Oh, #Oscars...you get Mark Hamill, Oscar Isaac and Kelly Marie Tran onstage and all you hand them is lame dialogue about robot discrimination and Jedi pension checks? This blerd is about to lose it....
There was a prize for the shortest speech, and the nominees were into it. Plus: Is the show being held in a geode?
Social media memes started pouring out as soon as Sunday's 2018 Academy Awards began. And jokesters didn't have to go far for their first target: the striking and elegant look of Hollywood's Dolby Theatre, where the event was held.
All the nominees will have to walk through this, which looks like a golden version of Rhoda Morgenstern's beaded curtain. #Oscarspic.twitter.com/toXHnThh9l
And once the show started, host Jimmy Kimmel promised a jet ski personal watercraft (displayed by actress Helen Mirren) to the maker of the shortest acceptance speech, a gimmick that quickly was picked up by nominees and viewers alike.
How do you ensure everyone knows you’ve got the correct envelope before walking on stage to announce an Oscar winner? Make sure it’s clear as mud which envelope is in the presenter’s hand. pic.twitter.com/RsxtqlsOrt
The Star Wars actor hopes the Tattoine farmboy just ditched his cloak and is letting it all hang out at a nudist colony.
It's hard to say goodbye to an old friend, especially if the friend's been with you since 1977. Actor Mark Hamill, who plays Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars saga, says that despite that infamous scene in "Star Wars: The Last Jedi," he's clinging to other theories.
"I refuse to believe that he's gone," Hamill told the BBC Friday. "My theory is he just teleported to somewhere else and left his robe behind. He teleported to a nudist colony, that's what I'm hoping."
In the film, an exhausted Luke, a Jedi legend who's come so far from the Tattoine farmboy he once was, dies peacefully on Ahch-To. It's a double whammy for fans of the original cast, since actress Carrie Fisher, who played Luke's twin sister Leia, died after "Last Jedi" finished filming, and won't be in the yet-unnamed Episode IX.
Fans will get to see Hamill again on Sunday, as he'll be one of the presenters at the 2018 Academy Awards in Los Angeles, along with castmates Kelly Marie Tran and Oscar Isaac.
As for Episode IX, whether or not Luke makes some kind of (flashback? dream sequence? Force ghost?) appearance, at least fans can be rest assured the movie has a script.
2018 sci-fi, fantasy and geek movies to get excited about
We're No. 2! Winning four Razzie Awards, the animated film and its stinker reviews made Patrick Stewart's talking-poo emoji proud.
Is there an emoji for when you win something (smiley face!) but it's something really embarrassing (blushing face!) but still you win a lot of it (blushing smiling face?)? If so, roll it out, because "The Emoji Movie" could use it.
On Saturday, the day before the 2018 Academy Awards, the Golden Raspberry Awards for the worst movies of the year were handed out, and "The Emoji Movie," whose stars included Patrick Stewart voicing a piece of talking poo, is truly No. 2. Er, No. 1, if you like.
The 2016 animated movie not only claimed worst picture, it also won worst screenplay, director and "worst screen combo." That last award was given to "any two obnoxious emojis" from the film, beating out competitors including "Johnny Depp and his worn-out drunk routine" from "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales," and "any combination of two characters, two sex toys, or two sexual positions" from "Fifty Shades Darker."
The plot summary sounds like something a fourth-grader scribbled down as a last-minute creative-writing assignment, but here it is:
"The Emoji Movie" features T.J. Miller. formerly of "Silicon Valley," as Gene, a young "meh" emoji who faces problems because he can make multiple faces, not just the one he's expected to produce. He meets up with many different emojis in Textopolis, a digital city inside the phone of a teen named Alex. Stewart, of "Star Trek" fame, lends his proper British accent to the piece of poo emoji, and deadpan comic Steven Wright voices Gene's father, another "meh" emoji.
The Razzies also named Tom Cruise as worst actor for "The Mummy," and Tyler Perry claimed the worst actress award for "BOO! 2: A Madea Halloween." Kim Basinger won worst supporting actress for "Fifty Shades Darker," and Mel Gibson won worst supporting actor for "Daddy's Home 2." The "Baywatch" film received the award for the "Razzie Nominee So Bad You Loved It."
"The Emoji Movie" has earned its honors. The film has an "overwhelming dislike rating" at CNET sister site Metacritic and a weak 9 percent critical approval rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
2018 sci-fi, fantasy and geek movies to get excited about
Will Snoke steal the show? Can Caesar seize the day? Are you rooting for Groot? Digital characters are vying for the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.
Last year we saw some gobsmackingly gorgeous blockbusters explode into movie theaters. This weekend, the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects will recognize the movie magic that created these stunning scenes -- and this year it's the battle of the digital characters, as every film features a major role that was conjured by computer-generated imagery.
Rachael in "Blade Runner 2049". Groot and Rocket in "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2". Kong in "Skull Island". Snoke in "Star Wars: The Last Jedi". Caesar and chums in "War for the Planet of the Apes". Which of these CG creations will bag the Oscar?
Nominees: John Nelson, Gerd Nefzer, Paul Lambert and Richard R. Hoover
Also up for best cinematography, best production design and two sound gongs, the hauntingly beautiful "Blade Runner 2049" takes us to a future of flying cars and androids. Like most of today's blockbusters, it's a team effort among various effects companies, including Framestore, Double Negative and MPC.
"2049" has already won Bafta and Visual Effects Society awards. The digitally created characters are incredible, but perhaps even more impressive are the immersive environments. Of all the films on the shortlist, it's this one that builds the most complete world.
Marvel Studios
'Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2'
Nominees: Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Jonathan Fawkner and Dan Sudick
Multiple Marvel movies have been nominated for this award, but none has won so far. By venturing beyond Earth for most of its run-time, "Guardians" takes the Marvel cinematic universe into full-on fantasy worlds. From epic space battles to a climactic punch-up between two shape-shifting living gods, "Guardians" is easily the most colorful and riotously imaginative of the films nominated.
What are the chances?
The Visual Effects Society recognized the swooping cinematography of the virtuoso opening scene, which combines a space battle with some cute dance movies from adorable arboreal Baby Groot. The question is whether the Academy will decide the sci-fi silliness serves a strong-enough story.
'Kong: Skull Island'
Nominees: Stephen Rosenbaum, Jeff White, Scott Benza and Mike Meinardus
The flamboyant visual styling, period music and over-the-top acting made this Vietnam War-era creature feature way more fun than it had any right to be, even if the story was monstrously bad. You can't beat the sight of a giant ape fistfighting helicopter gunships, especially when the inventive cinematography puts you right in the crashing choppers. And it's a mark of good visual effects when your entirely digital monkey has more personality than your star -- I'm looking at you, Tom Hiddleston.
What are the chances?
He might be 100 feet tall, but in this battle of the apes, Kong is something of an underdog. Smashing up helicopters and fanged beasties is one thing, but when it comes to soul and personality, he's no match for his "Planet of the Apes" cousins.
Disney
'Star Wars: The Last Jedi'
Nominees: Ben Morris, Mike Mulholland, Neal Scanlan and Chris Corbould
Rian Johnson's galactic opus divided fans, but if there's one thing we can agree on, it's that it looked amazing. From the opening space battle to the fabulously opulent casino on Canto Bight to the lumbering walkers of the climactic battle, "Last Jedi" is visually stunning. The effects work of Industrial Light and Magic (ILM), founded by George Lucas for the original "Star Wars", is a huge part of that.
What are the chances?
Almost all the films in the saga have been nominated for this award, but none of them has won since the effects wizards of the original trilogy took home special awards for their contributions to the craft more than 30 years ago. Will the cutesy porgs, glittering crystal wolves and crusty Supreme Leader Snoke be enough to change that?
Steve Zahn as a child-like chimp in "War for the Planet of the Apes." Twentieth Century Fox
'War for the Planet of the Apes'
Nominees: Joe Letteri, Daniel Barrett, Dan Lemmon and Joel Whist
This film has an ape up its sleeve -- or rather, several apes. The intricately animated characters were conjured to life with heartfelt motion-capture performances by Andy Serkis, Steve Zahn and others. Animators from effects house Weta meticulously created the ape characters down to the most infinitesimal detail of hair, skin and eyelashes. Then they put them in various environments including snow and rain slicking their fur. But the real triumph is in the personality of sympathetic and soulful characters such as Caesar and Bad Ape.
It's also worth noting that this is the last chapter in this "Planet of the Apes" trilogy, which might see the Academy's voters reward the series as a whole. Something similar occurred with the "Lord of the Rings" films, which were of course the starting point for Andy Serkis' motion-capture journey. Could we see Weta and Serkis come full circle? And what does Andy Serkis have to do win a darn Oscar?
What are the chances?
"Apes" already claimed four awards from the Visual Effects Society, which named Caesar as the outstanding animated character in a live-action movie. If these incredibly soulful CG apes don't get their hairy hands on the 2018 Oscar, I'll be a monkey's uncle.
Now you'll be able to see "Infinity War" even sooner than expected. 🙌
In the surprise-iest of surprise moves, Marvel started March off by moving up the "Avengers: Infinity War" release date for the entire world a whole week, to Friday, April 27. Everyone "will now be able to globally experience the film together, as it will be released worldwide on the same date," Marvel said in a statement.*
This all kicked off on Twitter thanks to @RobertDowneyJr, and you'll find the relevant parts below. (Seriously though, the move smacks of the "leaked"Avengers poster and all those adorable Mark Ruffalo stunts, and I'm even not mad about.)
Maybe parent company Disney didn't want Marvel to to have to compete with "Solo: A Star Wars Story" (which comes out at the end of May), or maybe it just understands that fans' love of all things Marvel Cinematic Universe-related is better served fast and furious this anniversary year. (And with three movies coming out this year, who needs time to breathe between them?)
The move isn't without precedent -- studios move films around all the time. What's different here is the manner and timing of the announcement. Usually films are pushed back, or kept in limbo for a period of time, and Marvel has been locked into this May 4 date (which is super close to the 10th anniversary of the MCU) for years. October 2014, to be exact.
Whatever the reasoning, fans are stoked and obviously soooo ready for more Black Panther. (OK, yes, and Iron Man and Cap and the rest of the team, sure.)
*Sounds like this may push back the opening date in countries like Australia, where the opening was scheduled ahead of April 27; note that IMDB still lists that country's opening date as Wednesday, April 25.
This week we’re bringing you a special edition of CTRL+T, the podcast that examines TechCrunch stories through a cultural lens.
You might have heard that Marvel released a film called Black Panther last week and it saw near-record crowds descend on theaters all over the world. The CTRL+T podcast team was among them.
We headed to Oakland on an unseasonably cold-for-California evening and waited in line at the Grand Lake Theater for about 90 minutes. While in that line, we talked to a few people to see how they felt about this Black Panther moment in time — with the dulcet tones of a corner trumpeter playing in the background.
We chat about the film, what it means and its impact on comic book audiences — an interesting conversation given the fact that my co-host, Megan Rose Dickey, and I don’t read comic books on the regular (or at all, really). Also caught on tape was a little run-in we had with a sign. It wasn’t me.
In the highly unlikely event that anyone was still wondering whether mononymous French director Pitof’s 2004 Catwoman wasn’t actually an absolute disaster, one of the film’s writers would like you to know that he thought it was a “shit movie.” Bold words. Bold, honest words.
In response to former First Lady Michelle Obama’s glowing endorsement of Black Panther for its black representation, Federalist culture critic D.C. McAllister took to Twitter to question why there hadn’t been a similar groundswell of support around Pitof’s Catwoman. Aside from the fact that the titular leads of both films are black superheroes with feline motifs, there aren’t that many similarities between the two.
Black Panther’s black-led production team put a tremendous amount of work into realizing a version of Wakanda that was inspired by and celebratory of many of Africa’s cultures. Catwoman’s production team churned out a weird story about ancient Egyptian cat magic and fighting against an evil makeup mogul. There were some feminist elements to Catwoman to be sure, but the movie as a whole was so bad that really, it’s hard to focus on its few positive features.
That’s a charitable view of the film compared to Catwoman co-writer John Rogers’, who saw McAllister’s complaint and straight up called his own movie out for being hot garbage:
As one of the credited writers of CATWOMAN, I believe I have the authority to say: because it was a shit movie dumped by the studio at the end of a style cycle, and had zero cultural relevance either in front of or behind the camera.
Rogers’ point about cultural relevance is likely in reference to the fact that the vast majority of Catwoman’s production team—its director, cinematographer, writers, and producers—were mostly white and male. Halle Berry’s performance was bad, to be sure, but who knows how much of that can be attributed to the fact that the creative minds behind the movie had no idea how to build a proper story for the actor to shine in?
In any case, let it now be known that Catwoman’s terribleness isn’t just the stuff of general internet nerd smugness. At least one of the folks who made the movie hates it even more than you do.
"Come on, I got to now!" Lamar said. He went on to say he enjoyed Michael B. Jordan's character, villain Erik Killmonger. "He was a villain but he was loved and misunderstood," Lamar said. "So if I could, I'd play a Killmonger for sure."
Famous rapper said it was a "privilege" to be involved with the in such a beautiful film like this, and that the film "is something that not only stands within its moment but stands within time."
You’ll soon be able to trap Ghostbusters ghosts in augmented reality à la Pokémon Go.
A short demo of the game Ghostbusters World was showcased at Google’s MWC booth, highlighting functionality made possible by the public release of Google’s ARCoreaugmented reality platform. Details are pretty slim for a wide release date other than it’s “coming 2018”.
The title will call on ghosts from the franchise’s “films, TV shows, comic books, theme parks, and video games” according to a press release. Ghostbusters is obviously no Pokémon when it comes to the cult following behind it, but the game does seem like it could have some pretty similar gameplay to Pokeémon Go when it launches.
The studio behind the title, South Korea-based publisher FourThirtyThree Inc. has launched a number of popular games including Blade for Kakao, Monster Super League and Seven Guardians. The studio primarily seems to dabble in RPG style video games, and early footage makes it seem as though this mechanic will be present in Ghostbusters World. The title was also developed in conjunction with Sony Pictures Entertainment Consumer Products and Ghost Corps.
For what it’s worth from the short video they’ve shown it does really showcase what AR can add to the game, and how much more integrated with the environment the game is than past AR titles. Whether the title will embrace the location-based community style which made Pokémon Go a bit of a cultural phenomenon is unclear.
Though the announcement was made in conjunction with Google, the game will also be coming to iOS. The developers will be making more announcements about the game at next month’s Game Developers Conference.
Commentary: CNET's Eric Franklin, a lifelong comics fan, will go back to the theater over and over to relive these parts of "Black Panther." Warning: Spoilers, and tears, ahead.
The more I've watched "Black Panther," the more I've come to appreciate how fantastic it is. (I've seen it four times now, about double my recent average for MCU films at this stage in their release.) I'll acknowledge that the movie isn't perfect. For starters, I really wish it was easier to see what was going on in that opening action scene. But I care less about perfection and more about how movies make me feel.
I've been a comic book fan most of my life, and I've been anticipating a Black Panther movie since I first started reading Christopher Priest's run in 1998. As a fan of the books, I couldn't wait to see how Wakanda and T'Challa would be interpreted. ("Civil War," of course, gave us a nice appetizer.)
But "Black Panther" carried an even larger expectation for me as a black person.
A big-budget movie with a predominantly black cast set in a fictional country with the most technologically advanced society on Earth? All happening in what's arguably -- there is still Star Wars, after all -- the most popular current movie franchise? You wanna talk about stuff I've never seen before? Stuff I didn't think I'd ever truly see? Stuff I've been dying to see on screen since I was old enough to realize it was missing from my life?
So, yes, the movie worked for me as a film -- and as the ultimate fulfillment of this big-budget pop-culture representation I've been longing for. And the impact it's having (like the #BlackPantherChallenge to pay for underserved kids to see the movie and the push to register voters at the theater) is so great to watch.
Here are my favorite moments from "Black Panther" in the order they appear. There are at least 100 more moments that deserve to be on this list, but unfortunately the Time Stone is still tucked safely away in Kamar-Taj (last I checked), and I would rather prioritize seeing the movie another half dozen times right now.
1. Welcome to Wakanda
What happens: T'Challa, Okoye and Nakia fly into Wakanda.
Why it's on the list: This is the first time we see Wakanda in the film, and in the MCU. And it's worth the wait. As the sun rises on T'Challa and Nakia, powerful African vocals deliver Ludwig Göransson's incredible score. Okeye proudly tells T'Challa and Nakia, "We are home." The ship decloaks and flies over the Wakandan outskirts, revealing a deep majestic canyon and a taste of the film's amazing cinematography by Rachel Morrison, an Oscar nominee for "Mudbound." The ship then swoops through a valley where we see herds of animals rushing, almost as if welcoming the king back home. The herders themselves wave as the ship flies by. My favorite images from this scene, though, are the Border Tribesmen on horseback, racing along, signaling to the ship.
Drum beats reach a fever pitch, and T'Challa's line, "This never gets old," mirrors how I will likely feel about this scene even 20 years from now. Finally, the ship dives right into the hillside and climatically breaks through the holographic barrier to reveal Wakanda in all its glory as the horns come barreling into the score.
Marvel Studios
I shed manly tears experiencing these first shots of Wakanda. The scene did not disappoint.
2. The Challenge Day ceremony
What happens: The Dora Milaje, the four tribes and T'Challa's family festively dance and drain the river in preparation for T'Challa to arrive to his coronation.
Why it's on the list: This scene, an instant classic, is the reason to see a spectacle film. Once again, the music is key. It's festive at first and then builds to a majestic high (there's a lot of majesty in this score) as T'Challa exits the ship to the sound of everyone chanting his name. T'Challa takes a moment to truly appreciate what a big deal this is as he looks around at his fellow Wakandans swaying and bobbing in celebration of their soon-to-be new king. This scene could have easily been ruined by a voiceover preemptively explaining the lore of the challenge, but the filmmakers are smart enough to just let a scene be.
Marvel Studios
I loved every aspect of this -- from the symbolic shot of the spaceship leaving the frame to the effects when his powers are stripped away as everyone rhythmically shrugs their shoulders (god, I love that detail). This is also when you first get to see Ruth E. Carter's incredibly vibrant, eclectic costumes penetrate the screen.
It feels like nothing I've ever seen before.
3. Shuri names her new invention
What happens: Shuri introduces new footwear to her brother.
Why it's on the list: This whole Shuri as "Q" James Bond scene is one of the most entertaining, but my favorite joke is Shuri's meta sneakers joke. No, not the "What are those?!!" one, although I quite enjoyed that one even before I knew it was a Vine reference. The other shoe joke about her new "sneakers."
What sold me was not just Letitia Wright's brilliant delivery, but Chadwick Boseman's reaction and then her response to his reaction. It's subtle and easy to miss. Watch both actors next time you see it. Their performances in this scene, and especially this moment, are brilliant.
4. Killmonger walks to the throne
What happens: Yes, literally just that.
Why it's on the list: This is the best shot in the movie. Everything about it is incredibly expressive: the music, the crazy rotating camera angle, the acting (Michael B. Jordan's stylish swagger as he heads to the throne is noticeably different from the way the other Wakandans carry themselves), the sandals he's wearing. Wakanda has just been turned on its ear and this shot captures that perfectly.
5. M'Baku threatens Ross
What happens: Everett Ross, played by Martin Freeman, starts speaking, but gets cut off by Winston Duke's M'Baku. Why it's on the list: Winston Duke's perfect comic timing is everything here. When Freeman starts talking, I cringed. I expected that tired cliche of the outsider explaining things to an antagonist in a way the main characters can't, getting them out of a bind. "Mr. M'Baku I'm not from around here, but if there's one thing I do know is that T'Challa..." UGH, no thanks!
Marvel Studios
But when M'Baku and the rest of the Jabbari basically bark him into submission, I was beyond relieved. And then, M'Baku threatens to feed Ross to his children. The implications of that line evoked too many "African savage" stereotypes for me. A big African black man threatening to feed the feeble white man to his assumably cannibalistic children?
But Ryan Coogler is a genius and I should have trusted him. He deftly subverted my expectation, and what followed was my favorite joke and delivery in the entire movie. It brings the house down every time I've seen it. Vegetarians, indeed.
6. T'Challa vs. Killmonger 1
What happens: T'Challa and Killmonger fight for the throne of Wakanda.
Why it's on the list: This is an incredible fight, though the first time I watched it, I wasn't really feeling it. It didn't hit me like a Winter Soldier kind of fight, which I guess is what I was expecting? But every time after that, it got better and better. I realized it tells a very specific story. The way the fight builds, T'Challa has a couple of chances to end it early, but instead shows mercy. As Erik gets the upper hand and you slowly realize T'Challa's not going to win, it's heartbreaking. The almost deafening score punctuates this.
Faceoff. Marvel Studios
The knee to the head, the punch to the gut. Killmonger's taunting question: "Is this your king?!" Nakia getting the Queen Mother and Shuri away. If you've watched this scene and you thought the fight was boring, watch it again and pay attention to the small details. Incredible.
This tweet perfectly mirrors my feelings on it:
7. Killmonger's vision
What happens: Erik Killmonger goes through the coronation ritual to become the new Black Panther.
Why it's on the list: This is, full stop, the best scene in the movie, from the way it's shot, again to the music, to the editing and writing choices. Namely the choice to use the kid version of Killmonger to talk to his dad. Erik has never gotten over the pain of losing his father. He's still that kid who found his father murdered by the king of Wakanda all those years ago.
Full disclosure: I've never seen an episode of "This is Us," but I'm now a huge Sterling K. Brown fan because of this movie, and mostly because of this scene. He kills it here and Michael B. Jordan is impressive, but it's child actor Seth Carr who makes this scene. His delivery of "People die ... that's just the way it is around here" is perfect. And as a guy who grew up on the west side of Chicago in the '80s and '90s, is something that's incredibly relatable for me.
8. The Dora Milaje trap Killmonger
What happens: Three members of the Dora Milaje trap Killmonger to attempt to remove his suit. Why it's on the list: This moment speaks directly to me. One of the things I love in superhero comics is seeing highly skilled but otherwise regular humans believably keeping up with (and sometimes even beating) superpowered individuals. (See a depowered Storm defeating Cyclops for leadership of the X-Men in "Uncanny X-Men #201.")
Marvel Studios
In this scene, Killmonger has the powers of the Black Panther and one of his suits, yet three Dora (who don't have superpowers, just powerful weapons and know how to work as a group) are able to trap him with their spears and nearly take him out. He ultimately uses the powers of the suit to break free, but this sequence made the Dora even cooler than they already were.
I also have to believe writers Ryan Coogler and Joe Robert Cole are also wrestling fans, as this is textbook "looking good in defeat," where a character comes close to beating another, stronger character, but is ultimately defeated, yet still having earned the fans' respect.
9. The final scene
What happens: T'Challa and Shuri visit Oakland.
Why it's on the list: T'Challa, forever changed by Erik Killmonger, comes to Oakland to start to slowly, thoughtfully help struggling black and poor people out in the world.
This scene impacted me in a way I didn't expect. It speaks to the 14-year-old version of me who wrote my own stories about cool sci-fi stuff happening in my neighborhood. In my stories, the main protagonist, the guy with the coolest weapon and fighting ability, was always black, because I frankly didn't see that enough in movies. Seeing this dramatized in a movie was like seeing a dream literally come true. It was an extremely emotionally complex moment. As the credits rolled, so did my tears.
All hail the king: Marvel film is on track for a $218 million debut, destroying the previous record for a February opening.
All hail the king: Marvel's "Black Panther" ruled the box office over the Presidents' Day weekend, Walt Disney Co. estimates showed Sunday, shattering records and earning the second biggest opening weekend for a Marvel Studios film, trailing only 2012's "The Avengers."
The film, which stars Chadwick Boseman as T'Challa/Black Panther, collected $192 million in ticket sales over the weekend, Disney estimates, for the fifth-largest film opening weekend ever and the highest-grossing February opening weekend ever, beating the $132 mark set by "Deadpool" in 2016. Estimates show it's on track for a $218 million four-day holiday weekend.
The only four films to have opened higher are some major names: "Star Wars: The Force Awakens,"''Star Wars: The Last Jedi,"''Jurassic World" and "The Avengers."
The film has demolished other records as well. It's the most-tweeted-about movie of the year so far, Twitter announced last week. It's also the fourth-biggest pre-sale movie in the history of ticket site Fandango, trailing only the last three Star Wars movies.
And numbers may continue to climb: Fandango reports that 61 percent of the "Black Panther" moviegoers it surveyed are considering a second viewing.
2018 sci-fi, fantasy and geek movies to get excited about
Will you finish them all before the Academy Awards on March 4?
Frankly, the best place to catch the bulk of the 2018 Oscar-nominated films will be in theaters. But if you want to check off a few viewings from your sofa, here's what Netflix has to offer.
Netflix picked up distribution rights to this period drama directed by Dee Rees after it screened at the Sundance Film Festival. The film received four Oscar nominations, including Best Adapted Screenplay, and a Best Supporting Actress nomination for Mary J. Blige. Rachel Morrison also made history as the first female to ever receive a Best Cinematography nomination in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science's 90-yearhistory. If you only have time to watch one film from the list, I highly recommend you choose "Mudbound."
If you're wondering what technical award this was nominated for, I'll save you a search. It's Visual Effects. That doesn't mean this Marvel film isn't worth your time. The Guardian films are humorous, visual candy that groove along in space to the tunes of classic oldies music. Plus if you haven't seen it, it's worth catching up on all the big Marvel films before "Avengers: Infinity War" releases in May.
'Last Man in Aleppo'
This documentary on the Syrian Civil War will leave you on the edge of your seat. It follows the lives of three men who are White Helmets, an organization that does search and rescue after bombings. "Last Man in Aleppo" already took home the Grand Jury Documentary award at Sundance. It's a heavy watch, but also a powerful one.
Unfortunately, Netflix doesn't have any Best Picture nominees available to stream. But it does have one Best Foreign Language Film nomination, the Hungarian "On Body and Soul." It's a romantic, if not strange, story of two slaughterhouse workers having shared dreams that they are deer in the forest.
Another contender for Best Documentary, "Strong Island" is an incredibly moving film about a family's history and their struggles with racism in America. The movie is centered around a horrific tragedy in 1992, when William Ford Jr., a 24-year-old black high school teacher on Long Island was murdered by a white 19-year-old. Yance Ford's documentary on his brother's death is a heart-wrenching film that tries to celebrate William's potential.
Bryan Fogel's documentary "Icarus" about sports doping may as well be called a thriller; while making this documentary he accidentally uncovers a massive Russian doping scandal after meeting with a Russian scientist. "Icarus" is an insightful yet scary look at the complex world of sports and the politics surrounding them.
Yep, "The Boss Baby" was nominated for Best Animated Feature. Alec Baldwin voices a baby who is a secret agent in a war between puppies and babies. I'm not going to try and sell you on the premise; I don't get it either. But hey, at least there's a film here you can watch with your kids.*
*Actually, there are two films you can watch with your kids. 👍 This live-action remake of the animated classic received nominations for both Production and Costume Design. It's not quite as magical as the 1991 version, but the film is still charming and well suited for a family movie night.
Commentary: Art like "Black Panther" overturns stereotypes to reclaim the past and reimagine the future. To understand the film's power, you need to understand Afrofuturism.
There's a secret at the heart of Marvel's superhero adventure "Black Panther": the African nation of Wakanda, bursting with advanced technology and hidden from the world.
Afrofuturist icon Janelle Monae at the Los Angeles world premiere of "Black Panther" in January. Alberto E. Rodriguez
But that's not the only thing this Afrofuturist epic uncovers. By drawing directly from Africa as its source material, "Black Panther" gives us a new way to think about a past, present and future rarely seen in mainstream movies. (Here's CNET's review of the film, which opened in US theaters on Friday and earlier worldwide.)
Marvel's latest superhero flick is the perfect example of the genre and movement known as Afrofuturism. It combines elements of sci-fi, fantasy and African history and culture to create a new world to explore and escape into.
The term Afrofuturism was coined in the early 1990s to refer to an analysis of African-American sci-fi. But it's since become a method for speculative thought, imagining "what if" scenarios in fiction, music and even architecture that reclaim and reinvigorate depictions of the black experience. By re-examining historical events through an African lens, we can more deeply understand where we are today and, in sci-fi creations like the high-tech culture of Wakanda, imagine possibilities beyond the status quo.
"Black Panther" star Chadwick Boseman, who plays T'Challa, said he expressly thought about how he should approach his accent as Wakanda's king from a purely African perspective.
"He's the ruler of a nation," Boseman told CNET in a November interview. "And if he's the ruler of a nation, he has to speak to his people. He has to galvanize his people. And there's no way I could speak to my people, who have never been conquered by Europeans, with a European voice."
Ryan Coogler directs Chadwick Boseman on the set of Marvel's "Black Panther". Matt Kennedy/Marvel Studios 2018
The "Afro" in the Afrofuturism of "Black Panther," isn't just evident in the predominantly black cast, also featuring Angela Bassett as T'Challa's mother, Ramonda; Michael B. Jordan as zealous villain Killmonger; and Lupita Nyong'o as spy Nakia.
It's everywhere in the aesthetics, from the vibrant design of the sets and costumes to the fictional rituals of Black Panther's home, Wakanda. Look at the ochre earth that covers the floor of the Wakandan throne room. Or the thatched roofs on the country's gleaming skyscrapers. Or gadgets in the form of traditional necklaces and beads. Even the natural landscapes of Wakanda draw on the variety of Africa's beauty, with rolling green hillsides and magnificent snowcapped mountains taking the place of the stereotypical parched desert.
King T'Challa's throne room is an example of Wakanda's combination of African heritage and comic book technology. Marvel Studios
Yet Afrofuturism is more than a visual style bringing African influences into the mainstream. Even before the first (white) men walked on the moon in the 1960s, African-American writers, artists and musicians like Sun Ra looked to space and to the fantasies of science fiction to find the freedom denied them on Earth.
"Afrofuturism does a couple of things," filmmaker, author and futurist Ytasha L. Womack explained in a keynote speech at Canada's McGill University in 2015. "It affirms the agency of people who pull from aspects of the African or black experience in the future ... but it also recovers this lost history, heritage and perspectives that aren't talked about in our education system. You can pull from these different aspects to shape your present -- and the future."
Representation of the historical black experience on screen has often focused on slavery, from 1915's "The Birth of a Nation" to 2013's "12 Years a Slave." In the present, black people are regularly depicted as passive victims of police brutality and gang warfare who come from violent, impoverished communities the world over.
Lupita Nyong'o (left) and Letitia Wright (right) fire up Wakandan high technology. Marvel Studios
In other words, humanity has been living with a Westernised narrative. But in "Black Panther," the black people and culture we see are very different from stereotypical representations. Wakanda's past is free of colonisation and enslavement. Wakandans of the present are active citizens with agency over their country's resources. And they combine their chief resource, Vibranium, with their knowledge and ingenuity to develop futuristic technology outstripping the rest of the world.
"One of the things that we really wanted to make sure about Wakanda is the technology, and I think that that's something that all the fans want to see," the film's production designer, Hannah Beachler, told Black Girl Nerds. "The other thing that we really talked about was keeping the tradition of several different African tribes. We really delved into what that was and how we mix this new and this old."
For Beachler, Afrofuturism means taking a familiar narrative and "mixing it up and reowning it ... going back to an older time and modernizing it, and reclaiming it, and owning it in a different way."
Art meets the Afrofuture
You'll find Afrofuturism in fiction such as Octavia Butler's 1976 time-travelling slave narrative novel "Kindred", or more recently, the novel "Who Fears Death" by Nigerian-American writer Nnedi Okorafor. Set in a postapocalyptic future version of Sudan, "Who Fears Death" is scheduled to be made into an HBO series produced by "Game of Thrones" author George R.R. Martin.
Even before academic Mark Dery coined the term Afrofuturism in 1993, we saw it in the work of artists like otherworldly jazz performer Sun Ra. His experimental music, extraterrestrial-inspired cosmic philosophy and flamboyant performances produced works like the psychedelic 1974 film "Space Is the Place," in which he comes to us as a "Universal Being" not of this dimension.
Sun Ra and his Arkestra look to the future in 1978. Getty Images
African-American singer, songwriter and record producer George Clinton of Parliament/Funkadelic fame shared many of the cosmic viewpoints of Sun Ra. His music was infused with an Afrofuturist vision of protest, hope, intergalactic mythology and fun, and he was one of the many who laid the groundwork for the evolution of electro. In the 1980s, hip-hop ambassador Afrika Bambaataaappeared as a being somewhere between a robot and an ancient Egyptian godhead for his influential 1982 hit "Planet Rock."
More recently, my personal favourite, Janelle Monae, adopted an android alter ego to take us on a tour of futuristic museums paying homage to rebel artists on the albums "The ArchAndroid" and "Electric Lady."
"I watched 'Metropolis' and was really inspired by it," Monae told The Irish Times. "Then I started to get into 'Alien' and 'Blade Runner', and I started to look at the android as the form of the other, all the discrimination that the android faced in these films. I could relate to that, the idea of being the minority within the majority."
Monae's next album and film will be titled "Dirty Computer" and will continue to explore sci-fi themes. No wonder she was the perfect choice to appear in "Hidden Figures," the award-winning 2016 movie reclaiming the contribution of African-American women to the space race.
By looking to both the past and the future and imagining new possibilities in stories like "Black Panther," we can inspire the present. At Afro Futures_UK, a UK-based collective of researchers, artists, programmers and activists, we explore new ways of seeing ourselves. Through seminars, workshops and social media, our black-led group aims to get more people involved in science, technology and the arts to do our bit toward self-determination and liberation.
As "Black Panther" sinks its teeth into huge box office success, Afrofuturism is now mainstream. A smash hit Marvel blockbuster made by a black cast, director and filmmakers should pave the way to change how Hollywood portrays Africa, the birthplace of humanity. That's the irresistible freedom of Afrofuturism.
Ryan Reynolds (@vancityreynolds)'in paylaştığı bir gönderi ()
Have a very Goonie birthday, Josh Brolin.
The actor, who plays Cable in the "Deadpool" sequel and Thanos in "Avengers: Infinity War," turns 50 on Monday. Ryan Reynolds, who plays Deadpool, was not about to let such a milestone go unnoticed.
Reynolds posted an Instagram photo of his character painting a portrait of Brolin, but the painting reflects Brolin as he looked circa 1985, when he made his film debut in "The Goonies." Deadpool's mimicking the famed Norman Rockwell triple-self-portrait from 1960.
"Happy Birthday, Bright Eye," Reynolds snarked in the Instagram caption, joking about the character's one-eyed face. "You don't taste a day over 40."
For more Deadpool teasing of Cable, check out the movie trailer released last week, where Deadpool stops the footage to complain about the CGI on Cable's metal arm.
The "Deadpool" sequel opens May 18 in the US and June 1 in the UK. No Australia release date has been listed yet.
2018 sci-fi, fantasy and geek movies to get excited about
