- Title: Showbiz in 2024: 'Oppenheimer' wins awards, 'Inside Out 2' storms box office
- Date: 4th December 2024
- Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (FILE - MAY 20, 2010) (REUTERS) "SHREK" ACTOR, MIKE MYERS POSING WITH SHREK, AT THE UNVEILING OF SHREK'S HOLLYWOOD STAR
- Embargoed: 18th December 2024 02:43
- Keywords: #MeToo in France 77th Cannes film festival Adam Sandler named highest paid actor in Hollywood in 2023 Angela Bassett Angelina Jolie comeback Anora Argylle Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Brad Pitt Christopher Nolan Cillian Murphy Da'Vine Joy Randolph Dakota Johnson Daniel Day-Lewis to come out of acting retirement Deadpool & Wolverine Demi Moore comeback in 'The Substance' Despicable Me 4 Disney Downton Abbey 3 Dune 2 Eddie Murphy 'Beverly Hills' cop return Emma Stone Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga George Clooney Gladiator 2 Godzilla x Kong Golden Lion winner Inside Out 2 Joaquin Phoenix Johnny Depp receives Lifetime Achievement Award at Rome Festival Joker: Folie à Deux Judith Godreche Julianne Moore Lady Gaga Lily Gladstone Lord of the Rings new film Madame Web Megalopolis Michael Keaton Michael Polansky Moana 2 Mufasa: The Lion King Nicole Kidman AFI Life Achievement Award Nosferatu Oppenheimer Palme d'Or winner Pedro Almodóvar Peter Jackson Sean Baker Shrek 5 Sonic the Hedgehog 3 Steamboat Willie The Room Next Door Tilda Swinton Timothee Chalamet Venice Film Festival Warner Bros. Wicked Winona Ryder Wolfs
- Location: VARIOUS LOCATIONS
- City: VARIOUS LOCATIONS
- Country: UK
- Topics: Arts/Culture/Entertainment,Europe,Film
- Reuters ID: LVA016560820092024RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: EDITORS, PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT IS PART OF A SERIES OF SHOWBIZ YEARENDERS RUNDDING DEC. 2-5, 2024
From "Inside Out 2" storming the global box office to "Joker 2" failing to impress critics and audiences, there were plenty of headlines from the world of cinema in 2024.
The year kicked off with awards season, which historical drama "Oppenheimer" dominated with win after win for its British director Christopher Nolan as well as actors Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr.
The blockbuster biopic triumphed at the Golden Globes, BAFTAs and Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards before picking up seven Oscars.
Those included best picture, best director for Nolan, best actor for Irishman Murphy - for his portrayal of Robert Oppenheimer, the physicist who led the United States’ development of the atomic bomb during World War Two, and best supporting actor for Hollywood star Downey Jr.
American Emma Stone claimed her second Academy Award, winning the best actress trophy for her role as a woman revived from the dead in the dark comedy "Poor Things".
The best actress race had been considered one of the tightest competitions with SAG Award winner Lily Gladstone nominated for “Killers of the Flower Moon”. Had she prevailed, Gladstone would have been the first Native American to win an acting Oscar.
American Da'Vine Joy Randolph, who also had also dominated the awards season with a Golden Globe, a Critics Choice Award, a BAFTA and a SAG award for her role as a grieving mother in ''The Holdovers’’, won the best supporting actress Oscar.
Angela Bassett received an honorary Oscar in January, celebrated for a lifetime of memorable roles from portraying Tina Turner to playing the queen of Wakanda.
Pixar movie "Inside Out 2" became the highest-grossing animated film of all time in July. It has taken $1.698 billion at the global box office so far.
The film, a sequel to the 2015 hit about the inner workings of a young girl's mind, surpassed Disney's 2019 phenomenon "Frozen 2", which grossed $1.45 billion worldwide. "Inside Out 2" also now sits at no.8 in global box office rankings.
The Marvel duo of "Deadpool & Wolverine" - starring Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool, a character known for sexually explicit jokes, swearing and violence and Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, a sharp-clawed mutant - was the second. It took $1.33 billion worldwide.
Animation "Despicable Me 4" ranked third with takings of $969 million while Timothee Chalamet's sci-fi epic sequel "Dune: Part 2" grossed $714 million.
Closing off the top 5 was "Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire", which grossed $571 million.
The year also saw some hotly-anticipated sequels released, including U.S. director Tim Burton's follow-up to his 1988 comedy horror "Beetlejuice".
"Beetlejuice Beetlejuice" reunited many of the original cast, including Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder, while introducing an array of fresh faces such as Jenna Ortega, of "Wednesday" fame.
Joaquin Phoenix reprised his role as the Joker in the new movie sequel about the DC Comics villain, which also starred Lady Gaga as Harleen “Lee” Quinzel, AKA Harley Quinn.
However despite the original 2019 "Joker" film winning high praise and two Oscars -including a best actor award for Phoenix - "Joker: Folie a Deux" failed to win over critics and audiences.
The movie has a low score of 32% on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes and so far has grossed a total of $206 million against the reported $300 million it cost to make.
Renowned American filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola faced harsh criticism for his science fiction film “Megalopolis”, starring Adam Driver as an architect-scientist who wants to better a fictional version of New York City called New Rome.
Coppola's $120 million self-funded project has a score of 45% on Rotten Tomatoes and only grossed $13.7 million worldwide.
Dakota Johnson's "Madame Web", part of Sony’s Spider-Man Universe of live-action spin-offs, also fared poorly with critics and at the box office - it has 11% score on Rotten Tomatoes and grossed $100 million worldwide.
British director Matthew Vaughn's starry spy comedy "Argylle" reportedly cost $200 million, but it made less than half of that - $96 million - at the box office.
Director George Miller's "Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga", starring Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth in the latest instalment of the "Mad Max" franchise, grossed $173 million worldwide. It had a reported budget of $168 million.
Hollywood stars descended on the French Riviera for the Cannes Film Festival in May and the Lido for the Venice Film Festival in the summer.
Among them was Demi Moore who premiered body horror film "The Substance" in Cannes. It was the first time in more than a quarter-century that Moore, who became a sex symbol through films like "Striptease" in the 1990s, was at the festival.
"Anora", a darkly funny and touching drama about a young exotic dancer who becomes involved with a Russian oligarch's son, won the top prize at Cannes, the Palme d'Or.
The film by U.S. director Sean Baker beat the 21 other films in the competition line-up, including entries by more established directors like Francis Ford Coppola and David Cronenberg.
In Venice, Spanish director Pedro Almodovar's first English-language movie "The Room Next Door", which tackles the hefty themes of euthanasia and climate change, won the prestigious Golden Lion award.
Starring Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore, the film received an 18-minute standing ovation when it premiered at Venice - one of the longest in recent memory.
Angelina Jolie premiered biopic "Maria", in which she plays soprano Maria Callas during her final days.
Meanwhile Hollywood A-listers Brad Pitt and George Clooney lit up the festival to premiere their film "Wolfs" in front of large crowds of screaming fans.
Adam Sandler topped the list of best paid actors in Hollywood in 2023, in part thanks to his Netflix movie success, Forbes revealed in March.
The magazine said Sandler, who has produced and starred in various films for the streaming platform including 2023's "Murder Mystery 2", earned $73 million last year.
Timothée Chalamet signed a multi-year deal with film studio Warner Bros in March.
The 28-year-old "Dune" and "Wonka" star agreed to collaborate with Warner Bros on future projects as both an actor and a producer.
The first-look deal allows Warner Bros to option all Chalamet's potential projects before any other studio.
Disney's early Mickey Mouse animation from 1928's "Steamboat Willie" entered the public domain on January 1 as the copyright expired according to U.S. law after 95 years.
Wasting no time, a trailer for new horror film, "Mickey's Mouse Trap", was released the following day, showing the "Steamboat Willie" version of Mickey Mouse as a knife-wielding killer.
"We wanted to take this really big iconic character that we all grew up with and put it to where it started and do something fun with it that Disney would never do," director Jamie Bailey told Reuters.
After more than a decade of superheroes saving the world on the movie screen, Eddie Murphy brought back the character he describes as "every man". Murphy returned as Axel Foley in "Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F," a new instalment in the action comedy franchise that debuted 40 years ago in 1984.
The Netflix movie, which premiered in July, was the fourth in the franchise and the first since 1994. As well as Murphy, previous stars Judge Reinhold and John Ashton reprised their roles in the film.
France's annual movie awards ceremony took a sombre mood in February with a standing ovation for actress Judith Godreche who spoke out against sexual violence in the film industry.
"Why accept that this art that we love so much, this art that unites us, be used as a cover for illicit trafficking of young women?" Godreche told the 49th Cesar Awards ceremony.
Police opened an investigation after Godreche filed a complaint for sexual violence against French film director Benoit Jacquot, 77, with whom she had a relationship in the late 1980s when she was a minor.
He told Le Monde newspaper his first sexual relationship with Godreche happened after her 15th birthday, the legal age of consent in France. Godreche told French media she was 14. In his interview with Le Monde, Jacquot, who is 25 years older than Godreche, denied any violence towards her.
A few months later, Godreche brought her movie about the #MeToo movement to the Cannes festival. The 17-minute short "Moi Aussi" ("Me Too") features the testimony of victims of sexual abuse and was shown at the "Un Certain Regard" competition's opening ceremony.
Oscar winner Nicole Kidman was honoured with the American Film Institute's (AFI) Life Achievement Award in April.
Kidman, then 56, is one of the youngest ever recipients of the award.
"I love film... and so the idea of being included in a group of other people that love film and to be able to look back and herald it and celebrate it. Ok, I'm so happy to be here. I'm so happy they chose me," Kidman said on the red carpet.
Actor Johnny Depp received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Rome Film Festival in October.
Depp was presented with the award by actor Riccardo Scamarcio, who stars in biographical drama "Modi - Three Days on the Wing of Madness", which Depp directed and which screened at the 19th edition of the film festival in the Italian capital.
The film follows bohemian Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani, known as Modi to his friends, over three days where he is involved in a chaotic series of events in the streets of war torn 1916 Paris.
Three-time Oscar winning actor Daniel Day-Lewis is coming out of retirement to star in his son’s feature film directorial debut, “Anemone”, production companies Focus Features and Plan B announced in October.
The highly acclaimed performer, known for films such as “Lincoln” and “Gangs of New York”, will take on his first acting role since 2017’s “Phantom Thread”, for which he earned his sixth Academy Award nomination.
He co-wrote “Anemone” with his son, painter and filmmaker Ronan Day-Lewis. Focus Features and Plan B described the movie as exploring "relationships between fathers, sons and brothers, and the dynamics of familial bonds”.
With cinemas grappling with competition from streaming and disruptions from the 2023 Hollywood strikes, there was high anticipation for the end of year releases including "Gladiator 2", "Wicked" and "Moana 2".
The musical adaptation "Wicked" and action epic "Gladiator II" racked up a combined $270.2 million in global ticket sales in their opening weekend in November, a gift to cinemas heading into what may be a record-setting holiday season.
The robust box office returns provided reassurance to Hollywood, which has weathered cost-cutting and layoffs amid forecasts of the death of cinema as consumers gravitated to streaming video services.
With animated movies like "Inside Out 2" and "Despicable Me 4" faring so well this year, there were high expectations for Disney's "Moana 2", released in late November.
It debuted with an estimated $368 million in global ticket sales over the Thanksgiving period.
December releases include Disney prequel "Mufasa: The Lion King", action adventure movie "Sonic the Hedgehog 3" and gothic horror "Nosferatu".
Looking forward, various film projects were announced. A fresh instalment in the "Lord of the Rings" movie series, one of the biggest film franchises of all time, is scheduled to debut in theatres in 2026.
It is one of two new "Lord of the Rings" films announced by Warner Bros Discovery CEO David Zaslav in May.
Andy Serkis will reprise his role as Gollum and will direct the first of the two films, which has a working title of "Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum."
The fictitious Crawley family and their servants running a sprawling English country estate in the early 20th century will return for a third "Downton Abbey" movie.
The award-winning "Downton Abbey" gained a huge following in Britain and the United States after it first aired as a television series in 2010. It went on for six seasons and was followed by two films, released in 2019 and 2022.
In May, Universal Pictures, Focus Features and Carnival Films said series creator Julian Fellowes had written the third film in the "Downton Abbey" franchise and that many original cast members, including Hugh Bonneville and Elizabeth McGovern - who play patriarch Robert Crawley and his wife Cora, respectively - would return for the new movie.
In July, studio DreamWorks Animation announced that the original 2001 cast of "Shrek" - Mike Meyers, Eddie Murphy and Cameron Diaz - were reuniting for the fifth comedy adventure in the series.
The studio made the announcement on X (formerly known as Twitter), with an animation that featured a figure '5' in the green shape of Shrek, complete with the ogre character's distinctive ears. It said the new film would open in July 2026.
(Production: Lisa Giles-Keddie, Marie-Louise Gumuchian)
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