How The SAG-AFTRA Strike Could Upend This Year’s Movie Release Schedule & Box Office

Director Christopher Nolan is known for his meticulous approach to filmmaking.

I was one of the first people to watch Oppenheimer in 70mm IMAX and it honestly blew me away.

J. Kim Murphy Greta Gerwig’s hot pink fantasia “Barbie” and Christopher Nolan’s intricately bleak historical drama “Oppenheimer” are both putting up box office openings to remember. In a summer movie season that has largely failed to keep spirits up, two bona fide blockbusters are showing that everyone can be a winner. But the more winning winner between the two — the number one movie in North America — is Warner Bros. Discovery’s “Barbie.” After scoring $22.2 million on Thursday, the highest preview ticket sales of the year, the big screen bonanza about Mattel’s ubiquitous doll kept the superlatives going on Friday, adding another $48.2 million from 4,243 theaters. That’s a $70.5 million total — the biggest opening day of the year, blasting past the $51.8 million earned by “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” in June.

Barbie featuing an elderly woman on a bench to remain in the final cut of the film.While Barbie (Margot Robbie) and Ken (Ryan Gosling) are in ‘the real world’, they pass by an elderly woman on a bench, and Barbie stops to tell the woman she is beautiful. Gerwig faced pressure to cut the scene because it didn’t add to the plot.Gerwig stood her ground, however, maintaining that the scene was ‘the heart of the movie’. “I love that scene so much,” Gerwig told Rolling Stone.

Barbie is currently set to outpace Oppenheimer at the box office over the two films’ shared opening weekend.The films have been the subject of particular attention for coming out on the same day, with many people attempting to see both in the space of 24 hours.As things stand, Greta Gerwig’s comedy is set to bring in $110million (£86.6million) at the US box office this weekend, over twice the expected takings of Christopher Nolan’s biopic about the creator of the atomic bomb. Oppenheimer is expected to gross $50million (£38.8million).Barbie’s current takings mean it will break the record for the highest-opening film in the US by a female director. Wonder Woman previously held the title, bringing in £103million(£89.1million) in 2017.Warner Bros confirmed yesterday (July 21) that Barbie had earned $22.3million (£17.3million) in box office previews – the highest figure of any film this year.

Follow OK! on Threads here: https://www.threads.net/@ok_mag Daniel Radcliffe has joined more than 160,000 people at the picket line during the SAG-AFTRA strike.The former-child star, who rose to fame playing Harry Potter in the franchise, brought along his newborn son alongside his American actress girlfriend Erin Darke.The 33-year-old was seen cradling his son, who was born in April this year, in a support sling across his chest while he marched alongside other actors and writers in the industry. He becomes the latest major star to join the picket line in support at the first industry-wide strike against film and TV studios since 1980.

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor The Toronto Film Festival is at a critical moment after three difficult years following the COVID-19 pandemic, but “the festival will take place,” says Cameron Bailey, CEO of TIFF. TIFF has typically been a star-studded affair and staple of awards season. However, what the red carpets at the gala premieres and tribute ceremonies that have gone to significant A-listers like Kate Winslet will ultimately look like, remains unknown. The longtime festival director doubled down on moving forward with this year’s festival, whether the big stars are in attendance or not. This comes amid ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes that have halted the Hollywood industry, putting the remaining months of movies and TV shows into unknown territory.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” is now playing in theaters nationwide, but one if its most emotional scenes might not have made it to the big screen had the filmmaker not held her ground against studio executives. In several interviews before the comedy’s theatrical release, Gerwig revealed that it was suggested she cut out the scene where Barbie (Margot Robbie) meets an elderly woman on a bench and tells her she’s beautiful. “I love that scene so much,” Gerwig told Rolling Stone. “And the older woman on the bench is the costume designer Ann Roth. She’s a legend. It’s a cul-de-sac of a moment, in a way — it doesn’t lead anywhere. And in early cuts, looking at the movie, it was suggested, ‘Well, you could cut it. And actually, the story would move on just the same.’ And I said, ‘If I cut the scene, I don’t know what this movie is about.'”

It’s Day 8 of the SAG-AFTRA strike and Day 81 of the WGA strike.

At its Max streaming event earlier this year, Warner Bros. Discovery confirmed a new era is coming for Harry Potter fans. The company announced a TV series based on all seven books about the boy wizard written by J.K. Rowling. See below for the most current answers to the most important questions about the project.

Robert Downey Jr. is opening up about the tattoo he shares with his fellow original Avengers.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director The one thing you need to know about Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” is that it moves incredibly fast and covers a lot of ground. For most of its three-hour runtime, the atomic bomb epic can feel as if you’re reading a dense biography about J. Robert Oppenheimer at three times the normal speed.

Challengers,” starring Zendaya, which had been set as the Venice Film Festival opener, has been pulled from the festival due to promotional complications prompted by the SAG-AFTRA strike. Venice has announced that the sexy sports comedy — in which Zendaya plays a former tennis prodigy turned coach entangled in a love triangle with two pro tennis players, played by Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist — has changed its distribution strategy. The film’s promotion has been disrupted by the current actors strike, which prohibits SAG-AFTRA union members from doing any type of promotional activity. This means Zendaya, O’Connor and Faist would not have been able to launch the film on Aug. 30 on the Venice red carpet.

Zendaya tennis drama Challengers has become a high-profile casualty of the SAG-AFTRA strike with confirmation that its Venice Film Festival world premiere has been cancelled.

Christopher Nolan and Cillian Murphy joined forces on the highly anticipated war film "Oppenheimer," and Murphy admitted he felt "pressure" collaborating with the famed British-American director. Although the two have worked together in Hollywood for more than 20 years, Murphy, 47, said he "for sure" felt an overwhelming responsibility to perform his best in Nolan’s latest film. "Pressure is good because it pushes you...

Robert Downey Sr., the younger Downey made his acting debut at age five, playing the ironic role of a sick puppy n his father’s film “Pound.” Downey Jr. found early success as an adjunct member of the Brat Pack, starring in the nihilist classic “Less Than Zero.” He earned his first Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Charlie Chaplin in the eponymous film. Downey has famously, and publicly, battled substance abuse, spending much of the 90’s and early aughts in and out of treatment centers and correctional facilities before finally getting sober in 2003 and making the unlikely leap from getting high to becoming the highest paid actor in Hollywood.

on Friday, in conjunction with the movie's highly anticipated theatrical release. The album, produced by Mark Ronson, shares two of its credits with the movie's own cast --Dua Lipa, who plays mermaid Barbie, and Ken extraordinaire Ryan Gosling both feature on the film's soundtrack. Warner Bros. first announced plans to release in May, when Dua Lipa released her featured track, «Dance the Night.»The studio has since released six more featured singles: «Barbie World (with Aqua)» by Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice, «WATATI» by Karol G, «Angel» by PinkPantheress, «Speed Drive» by Charli XCX, «Barbie Dreams (feat.

The much-anticipated Barbie film finally hits cinema screens today (Friday, July 21) - and keen-eyed moviegoers who also know their Love Island contestants might spot a familiar face while they're enjoying the summer blockbuster. Chris Taylor, who appeared on the ITV dating show's fifth season, makes a cameo which is understood to have come about all because of the film's star.

Jordan Moreau “Barbenheimer” is finally here. The biggest box office battle in years has begun, with Warner Bros.’ “Barbie” making $22.3 million at the domestic box office in Thursday previews. Universal’s “Oppenheimer” made $10.5 million in previews. The “Barbie” preview haul is the biggest of the summer box office, beating the previous best of $17.5 million from “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.” “Barbenheimer” won’t be much of a showdown, however, as Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie’s “Barbie” is expected to have a huge debut of well over $100 million in its opening weekend — with some estimates as high as $140 million, thanks to its massive marketing efforts. The large preview gross suggests the opening weekend may be closer to the high-end of projections.

As the SAG-AFTRA strike begins its second week, there’s no indication that negotiations will resume between that guild or the WGA with AMPTP any time soon. And that’s bad news for studios, as actors on strike will begin not only to affect the production of new work, but the premieres of upcoming schedule films.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Recently restored versions of William Friedkin’s “The Exorcist,” Terrence Malick’s “Days of Heaven” and Francis Ford Coppola’s “One From the Heart” feature in the Venice Classics section of the 80th Venice Film Festival. The lineup of recently restored films in Venice Classics, which is curated by the festival’s artistic director Alberto Barbera in collaboration with Federico Gironi, was unveiled on Friday. “The Exorcist” is screened, 50 years after it was produced by Warner Bros., alongside Disney’s “Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm,” starring Shirley Temple and directed by “the prolific and sometimes brilliant” Allan Dwan, to mark the Hollywood studios’ 100th anniversaries.

EXCLUSIVE: The box office event of the year which has Warner Bros. mass female attraction, Barbie, and Universal’s Christopher Nolan directed, Oppenheimer, has officially fired off its confetti guns with the movies seeing respectively an estimated $20M and $9M+ from their previews. Again, these numbers could fluctuate by morning.

Warner Bros. is considering moving three highly anticipated movies to 2024 amid the two strikes happening in Hollywood: SAG-AFTRA and WGA.

Christopher Nolan delivers his first biographical epic in Oppenheimer.Based on the book American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin, the film follows the life of theoretical physicist J.

Christopher Nolan delivers his first biographical epic in Oppenheimer.Based on the book American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin, the film follows theoretical physicist J.

Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer has been released – check it out below.Based on the book American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin, the film follows the life of theoretical physicist J.

Tehran, the Israeli spy thriller that airs globally on Apple TV+, has become one of the most high-profile TV series to land a SAG-AFTRA interim agreement.

Refresh for more …The first Indian film, Project K, to make its grand debut in Hall H made a lot of noise –a lot — today with a grand musical number that rivaled Amazon Prime Video’s Lord of the Rings orchestra and choral last year.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Josh Hartnett revealed to Playboy magazine in 2015 that he talked with Christopher Nolan about taking on the role of the Caped Crusader in the director’s “Batman Begins,” which launched Warner Bros.’ billion-dollar grossing “Dark Knight” trilogy. How far did those talks go before Nolan settled on Christian Bale instead? In a new interview on the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast, Nolan confirmed talks with Hartnett took place, but his casting never got too serious. “No, it never got that far,” Nolan said when asked if he screen-tested Hartnett for the role of Batman. “I met with Josh and if I recall, he was a young actor whose work I was very interested in,” Nolan added. “I had an initial conversation with him but he had read my brother’s script for ‘The Prestige’ at the time and was more interested in getting involved with that. So it never went further than that.”

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor “Oppenheimer” has burst into the Oscar race. With the earnest and urgent cultural fabric of “To Kill a Mockingbird” and the philosophical measure of “The Tree of Life,” writer, director and producer Christopher Nolan’s chronicle of the creation of the most destructive weapon ever used stands as the most ambitious and vital piece of filmmaking of his career. Adapted from the book “American Prometheus” by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin, “Oppenheimer” tells the complicated and morally fraught story of American scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer who led the effort to develop the atomic bomb. Nolan and his stellar ensemble of actors have amassed 27 Oscar nominations collectively throughout their careers. One of those who surprisingly hasn’t nabbed one is Irish actor Cillian Murphy, who plays the titular scientist. With dry wit and womanizing charm that effectively makes him the scientific version of Michael Fassbender in “Shame,” Murphy is an effective vehicle to lead the viewer through through reams of scientific terminology. In addition, his tour-de-force performance, which is sure to be in real consideration for best actor, is best displayed when showcasing the emotional toll such a creation can have on a person. Lead actors from competitive best picture players, especially from biopics, have been consistently recognized over the past few decades in Oscar history (see Benedict Cumberbatch for “The Imitation Game” or Christian Bale for “American Hustle”). Murphy could find his time has come after decades of memorable turns in “28 Days Later” (2002) and “Breakfast on Pluto” (2006).

Margot Robbie had a vision when it came to producing Barbie — and was willing to say anything to get her movie made.  

Jenna Ortega‘s new film is one of very few set to continue production through the Hollywood actors’ strike.The Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) began a strike last week. The union, which represents 160,000 actors and performers, are seeking an increase in base pay and residuals in the age of streaming, along with safeguards against the unregulated use of artificial intelligence in the industry.This means that many projects in Hollywood have currently paused production, and will continue to do so until the strike ends.However, Ortega’s new film Death Of A Unicorn – an A24 production – has been given permission to restart production.The film stars Ortega and Paul Rudd as a father and daughter duo who run over a unicorn, and will see work continue due to SAG-AFTRA giving approval to the continued production of films from studios or companies not represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).The actors’ strike coincides with the Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike, which began on May 2 and halted production on a number of projects.

anticipation, Christopher Nolan's latest motion picture is being released to theaters Friday, July 21., starring Cillian Murphy, Robert Downey Jr., Florence Pugh, Matt Damon and Emily Blunt, tells the story of the brilliant J. Robert Oppenheimer, who was pivotal in the creation of the nuclear bomb.

Christopher Nolan’s highly-anticipated and highly-reviewed Oppenheimer has begun overseas rollout with strong results versus some of the director’s previous titles. On Wednesday, the Universal film opened in 10 offshore markets, grossing $2.4M and led by France and Indonesia. These are early days as the critically-lauded Cillian Murphy-led biographical drama/political thriller will be playing a total 78 markets through Friday, across over 9,600 locations, 13,000 screens, and more than 320 IMAX screens.

anticipation, Christopher Nolan's latest motion picture is being released to theaters Friday, July 21., starring Cillian Murphy, Robert Downey Jr., Florence Pugh, Matt Damon and Emily Blunt, tells the story of the brilliant J. Robert Oppenheimer, who was pivotal in the creation of the nuclear bomb.

It is probably no accident that Apple has chosen this week to launch its own legendary toy biopic, The Beanie Bubble, in the shadow of Warner Bros. about-to-be blockbuster Barbie. It can only benefit from the obvious connections and themes of female empowerment bubbling under the surface of both.