Chris Lee

Maturbation on the moors for the win. Emerald Fennell cements her place among Hollywood final-cut filmmakers with a No. 1 opening weekend for Wuthering Heights. vulture.com/article/wuther…

Gore Verbinski's Pirates of the Caribbean movies made billions and he seemed like a Hwood made man. Until Lone Ranger became an era-defining flop. After nothing for a decade, he's back with Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die. I asked him "Where have you been?" tinyurl.com/3ex6z8bm

In the poster for James L Brooks' Ella McCay, idealistic millennial lieutenant governor Ella McCay struggles to put on a shoe. In the film? She puts on shoes just fine! But that hasn't stopped fans from paying homage to Ella's iconic standing-on-one-foot shoe imbroglio

Best Arts or Entertainment Limited Series Podcast, Radio/Podcast Charlotte Silver, Joe Adalian, Rebecca Alter, Bilge Ebiri, Chris Lee, Vulture, “The Disney Dilemma” vulture.com/article/land-o…

In Hollywood success begets sequels. With Wicked For Good debuting to $226M, I asked Universal's chief marketing officer if any sequels or spinoffs are in the works: "We have almost a responsibility to figure out how we can continue in this universe" tinyurl.com/3vd7t5r9

Black Bear released the Sydney Sweeney boxing biopic #Christy on over 2,000 screens to a disastrous $1.3M debut. I examine the economic crosswinds buffeting indie filmdom that are responsible for so many flops from A-list stars this awards season tinyurl.com/3dd6wjv3

Netflix released #KPOPDEMONHUNTERS in theaters twice, is putting @JayKellyFilm in "historic movie palaces," the @Stranger_Things finale in the multiplex and giving GDT's Frankenstein the "biggest theatrical release." Has Big Red learned to love theaters?? tinyurl.com/34vhz697

For the past 2 years Blumhouse has delivered a string of flops. Now Black Phone 2 opens to a so-so: $27.3M. I delve into the company's sequelization woes (M3gan 2.0!) and evolution from making cheapo originals to $$$ reboots of The Exorcist and Halloween tinyurl.com/kecxppd9

Highly recommended: this fascinating profile of Iranian dissident filmmaker/2025 Palme d'Or winner/iguana dad Jafar Panahi by the ever wonderful @roxana_hadadi

Paul Thomas Anderson's One Battle After Another won the weekend with $22.4 million but still faces a long road toward profitability. Nevertheless, it stands as capstone to Warner Bros.' $4 billion year: the studio's 7th No. 1 movie in a row. tinyurl.com/4d3rtxan

At 18 Nico Ballesteros became @kanyewest's video biographer: sitting in on meetings with Lady Gaga, Elon Musk & Trump; chronicling the rapper-designer-Nazi sympathizer's disintegrating marriage to Kim K. Here Nico talks me thru his 8-year Ye odyssey tinyurl.com/y8pwvn4a

@DEADLINE But what did Setoodeh clock this standing O at?

Joaquin Phoenix and Rooney Mara clapping passionately during the 23-minute-plus ovation in Venice for Kaouther Ben Hania’s Gaza film #TheVoiceOfHindRajab, which they executive produced

#JurassicWorldRebirth, #HowToTrainYourDragon and #TheBadGuys2 all carry end-credits warnings: "THIS WORK MAY NOT BE USED TO TRAIN AI." I unpack how such warnings are basically unenforceable at a time when no one has figured out data scraping vs Fair Use tinyurl.com/4pzmjapx

@radar_online fight the power

'White Lotus' actor Sam Nivola has blasted aging movie stars for having plastic surgery to play younger parts and claims they're blocking pathway for new talent. radaronline.com/p/white-lotus-…

Superman entered the movies marketplace with any number of potential frailties: the absence of a marquee star, perceptions of superhero fatigue (especially abroad), IP that unlike Spider-Man or Batman has ebbed and flowed from public consciousness for the past two decades. But pinning its underwhelming financials on anti-American sentiment presents more than a few troubling implications for an already beleaguered Hollywood. In an era when President Trump’s whipsaw imposition of tariffs has been wreaking havoc on world stock exchanges, DOGE cuts to humanitarian aid have eroded American “soft” power, and U.S. military support for Israel has come under intense criticism, is overtly American aesthetic the kiss of death for Hollywood’s premium movie product?

#TheNakedGun arrived as one of the only straight-down-the-pike, non-hybrid movie comedies to hit multiplexes since COVID. The genre had been given up for streaming. But now? "People are saying, 'We can go back to the theater and watch comedies again.” tinyurl.com/5n82c43s

If Shari Redstone’s attempt to sell off Paramount Global to David Ellison were a TV show, it would prob be called Ridiculousness. @TVMoJoe (with an assist from me) digs into the 8 biggest headaches facing New Paramount since the FCC's shitshow approval tinyurl.com/5hxpc6rr

In an era of snarky superhero-dom, where Deadpool can kill, maim and then crack jokes; #SupermanMovie's hyper-earnestness and extreme sincerity may have cut through the cultural clutter to become its superpower at the box office tinyurl.com/56rdjys3

Apple spent nearly a quarter of a billion dollars on ‘F1,’ a literal star vehicle for Brad Pitt. Making its money back at the box office, insiders say, is beside the point. vulture.com/article/no-one…

@DrewTailored right you are Drew -- corrected! thanks

Hey @__ChrisLee "Elemental" didn't win the Oscar for Best Animated Feature. It was (rightfully) nominated but lost to Hayao Miyazaki's "The Boy and the Heron." Hope this helps!