Latest news with #JurassicWorld
The Verge
a day ago
- Entertainment
- The Verge
A-lister antics and Schedule A shenanigans
Summer blockbusters like the new Superman and Jurassic World movies may be doing great at the box office, but promoting them is more complicated than ever. The old celebrity playbook of magazine profiles, TV chat shows, and press junkets isn't enough in an era of audience fragmentation. Publicists now have to strategize which podcasts to make time for, and whether their clients will eat chicken on YouTube with Amelia Dimoldenberg or Sean Evans. This week on The Vergecast, guest host Mia Sato talks to Vulture's Fran Hoepfner to break down the ever-changing new media circuit, whether you're a beloved A-lister, a formerly beloved A-lister, or an aspiring Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Overcast | Pocket Casts | More Then, we take a deep dive with Sarah Fackrell into a controversial legal tactic brands are using to go after online sellers hawking everything from Grumpy Cat T-shirts to closet hooks. Finally, Victoria Song joins Mia to answer a Vergecast hotline from a listener wondering whether an AI translator will be able to keep up with his partner's Colombian mother. If you've got a question for us, call 866-VERGE11 or e-mail vergecast@ Want to learn more about what we talk about today? Here are some links to get you started:
9 News
a day ago
- Entertainment
- 9 News
The Aussie drone technology helping make some of Hollywood's biggest blockbusters
Your web browser is no longer supported. To improve your experience update it here Watching Tom Cruise drive off a cliff is a stunt etched in Hollywood history. It was real, it took months of training, and it was filmed by Melbourne's XM2. "We make the impossible possible," quipped chief executive Stephen Oh from the company's headquarters, hidden in Melbourne's eastern suburbs. XM2 co-founders Stephen Oh, Aidan Kelly and Luke Annells met flying hobby helicopters. (Nine) He was controlling the camera that tracked Cruise off the cliff. "The environment was very difficult - the pressure was immense," Oh said. "It was millions and millions of dollars for a 20-something-second clip and there was a chance that we could only do that once." They ended up filming it six times. XM2 o-founder Aidan Kelly was piloting the drone itself. "We took quite a while to build up to that shot," admits Kelly, who trained with Cruise at a quarry in the UK before attempting the stunt in Norway. "As Tom got more comfortable with the drone and as I got more comfortable with what Tom was doing, there was this iteration as we rehearsed and figured out the exact angels and speed we wanted to do it at. "It just came together slowly into this one shot which is one of the biggest stunts in film history. "It was awesome to be a part of it." When visited XM2, Kelly was gearing up to film the next Spider-Man film. It adds to the company's growing resume of blockbusters, including Jurassic World , John Wick and The Fall Guys , which shut down Sydney Harbour Bridge for a full day. "I was in the back of a ute controlling the drone, flying at 60-70km/h, weaving through traffic," Kelly said. "We were weaving through traffic, weaving left and right … we flew up inside the bridge and then back down the other side. It was super intense." "It's one of the highlights of my career." Oh and Kelly and their co-founder Luke Annells met flying hobby helicopters. They started XM2 in 2011 to build a drone that could carry a 25 kilogram camera. They quickly found work with David Attenborough and on Kate Winslet's The Dress Maker , but it wasn't enough when the director of Pirates of the Caribbean 5 came knocking. "He said we want something bigger and better and I said that's not possible," Oh said. "[For the camera he wanted], that drone will need to carry about 40 kilos and he said, well, if you can't fly it, don't worry about it. "We put our heads together and developed exactly what he wanted very quickly, the world's first 40-kilo drone. "It was supposed to be for three weeks, but they loved it so much that we ended up staying for six months." XM2 quickly found work with David Attenborough and on Kate Winslet's The Dress Maker, but it wasn't enough when the director of Pirates of the Caribbean 5 came knocking. (Nine) Since then, the company has expanded to Los Angeles and London, and designed stability rigs for everything from cars to motorbikes and even horses for the Michelle Payne movie, Ride Like a Girl . That technology caught the eye of Ridley Scott and drew support from the Victorian government's creative industries minister, Colin Brooks. "Full credit to this company, they are so innovative and so agile," Brooks said. "It doesn't seem like there's a challenge that they won't take on." Soon that challenge will extend well beyond Hollywood. The company is developing tethered drones that can fly for weeks to restore network signals in areas devastated by natural disasters. XM2 is also working on a prototype that can feed native animals, stranded without food, for Parks Victoria. Oh believes "this is Melbourne technology, that's going to save lives around the world". Melbourne Australia national Victoria Hollywood Movies drones CONTACT US Auto news: Why Australians are still driving around without insurance.
Forbes
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Forbes
‘Superman' Soars To $407 Million ‘Jurassic World' Devours $648 Million
Superman soared to $407 million worldwide and Jurassic World: Rebirth devoured $648 million, in a weekend that saw plenty of underperformance and outright face-planting by a few new releases and holdovers (notably Smurfs, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Elio, and M3GAN 2.0), but most of the rest either put up okay numbers or at least enjoyed strong holds (F1, How to Train Your Dragon). David Corenswet stars in "Superman." Superman By The Numbers With more than $45 million overseas and $57 million stateside, Superman finished once again ahead of most estimates heading into the weekend. My own mid-week predictions ahead of Superman's second weekend were 'around $57 million domestic weekend and about $42 million international, totaling roughly $410-415 million through close of business Sunday.' Although the final total was slightly lower at $407 million, due to lower weekday totals than I anticipated (notably on Wednesday and particularly Thursday), it beat lower-end estimates and is enough to put $500+ million squarely in Superman's sights now. Impressively, despite otherwise lower international turnout than hoped for, Superman's word-of-mouth superpower helped it to a terrific hold almost everywhere except Asia-Pacific, specifically China where the Man of Steel is facing a worst-case flop and will finish with less than $10 million total. It's not an understatement to say the doomsday outcome in China, and to some extent South Korea where Superman will be lucky if it can limp to a $6 million final cume, has made a big difference in whether Superman finished at an acceptable $500-550 million and signal audiences are willing to give DC another chance, or was able to top $600 million and send an even louder message that audiences are not only willing but eager to show up for more. Superman Sets The Stage It looks like 'willing' is going to have to be good enough (and make no mistake, it is), as I think $600 million is out of reach for Superman at this point. My own math, admittedly based on only two weekends of data, puts Superman right at $548 million, so call it $545-550 million range. High-end looks like $570 million, plus or minus a couple of million, which requires continued unexpectedly great holds internationally and at least average or better holds in North America for the rest of its run. Low-end is roughly $525 million. So overall, $500 million has looked certain for Superman almost right out the gate, but this weekend clinched it, as well as confirming $600 million or higher was no longer in the cards. That's disappointing and certainly lower than anyone involved hoped for, no doubt, but it's the sort of disappointment that comes from winning the bronze medal instead of the silver, when you knew the gold was already claimed anyway. It's a nice problem to have for once, if you're WBD and used to problems that were sinking your superhero slate instead of merely a lesser variation of success than you held out hope for. Superman is a going to do blockbuster box office (even if at the entry-level tier for using the term 'blockbuster') and is widely liked or loved, and has convinced audiences to show up again for DC movies that aren't just solo Batman projects. Most importantly, I believe as it relates to the context of future potential, this looks a lot like what happened with Batman Begins, which is a nice comparison for Superman writer-director and DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn both from an artistic perspective but also from a financial perspective. We all know what came next for director Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy, and I discussed it all in more detail in my article about Batman Begins' 20th anniversary, so be sure to check that out as well. Gunn and his co-CEO Peter Safran understand how the original Richard Donner Superman movies planned a multi-film investment for payoff, Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings put the approach to famously successful use as well, and most directly relevantly Kevin Feige's entire MCU was built on the premise that the Phase One Superman now faces Marvel Studios' MCU summer tentpole Fantastic Four: First Steps, which is on course for a $125 million opening weekend domestically and even bigger internationally. There's room in the marketplace for many films to succeed together, and I do think Superman will continue to enjoy decent audiences, but it's also true that Jurassic World: Rebirth's sustained holds and the global power of Marvel's brand make it hard to imagine an overperformance for the DCU hero next weekend.
BBC News
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Bringing a baby dinosaur roar to 'life'
BBC journalist Tom Gerken voices his own dinosaur in the video game, Jurassic World Evolution 3. This video is from Tech Now, the BBC's flagship technology programme.
Business Insider
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Business Insider
Katherine Schwarzenegger says she hired a coach to teach her how to step-parent Chris Pratt's son
Before Katherine Schwarzenegger married Chris Pratt, she hired a pro to help her prepare to become his son's stepmom. During a joint appearance with Pratt on Tuesday's episode of the " Parenting & You with Dr. Shefali" podcast, Schwarzenegger spoke about family life and what it was like navigating a blended household. Schwarzenegger married the "Jurassic World" actor in 2019 and has two daughters and a son with him. Pratt also shares a son, Jack, 12, with his ex-wife, Anna Faris. "Number one thing I say is get a stepparenting therapist or stepparenting coach, because I got that right when we got engaged, and it's been incredibly helpful for me and also just understanding my role as a stepparent," Schwarzenegger told podcast host and clinical psychologist Shefali Tsabary. The eldest daughter of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver added that her coach was "essential" in helping her learn how to communicate with her stepchild and think of herself as a stepparent. "Because stepparenting, like parenting, has no handbook. Because I have the benefit of being in both roles, stepparenting is extra confusing because you aren't a parent, you're not a nanny, you're not an assistant. You have responsibilities in all of those areas, but you're not either of them. It's a confusing thing to navigate where you fit in," Schwarzenegger said. She also said that every family has a different dynamic, since different people might have different levels of involvement in their stepchild's life. "And when it comes to ego, that definitely pops up for me, for sure, and I always go back to understanding that this isn't about me, it's about the child," she said. But thankfully, they — Schwarzenegger, Pratt, Faris, and Faris' husband Michael Barrett — "co-parent all very well, which is a huge blessing," she said. Pratt, who was also a podcast guest, added that stepparenting reminds him of motion-capture acting, where actors wear specialized suits with sensors to animate digital characters, because stepparents "don't end up getting the credit" they deserve. "If a parent is in there doing the hard work of creating structure for a child and holding children accountable — and it's not a biological child — it can feel thankless. But it's a really, really important job," Pratt said. Schwarzenegger isn't the only Hollywood celebrity who has spoken up about being a stepparent or blending their families. In March, Kate Hudson — who has three kids with three dads — said there are upsides to having big, blended families. "It's like they have so much family. They've got multiple grandmas, multiple grandpas, multiple dads, and moms," Hudson said. On a "Goop" podcast episode in April, Gwyneth Paltrow said that it was tough navigating the stepparent dynamic as it often felt "full of minefields." "If I look back at my mistakes as a stepmother, I should have just treated them both like my kids way faster," Paltrow said. Paltrow has two kids with her ex-husband Chris Martin, whom she divorced in 2016. In 2018, she married Brad Falchuk, who has two kids from his previous marriage. Parenting experts previously told Business Insider about the common mistakes that stepparents make when trying to connect with their stepkids. One mistake is trying to replace the stepchildren's biological parents. "The stepparent isn't the biological parent, and it is OK to acknowledge that," Sarah Epstein, a licensed marriage and family therapist, told BI. "In fact, don't try to compete. Instead, speak directly to the child about their parent and encourage the relationship between the child and parent."
