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Entertainment

‘Raya And The Last Dragon’ Opening To $8M+ As Pic Hits Disney+ & NYC Reopens – Deadline

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Saturday AM Update: Updated with NYC B.O. data Even with three new wide releases at this weekend’s box office, and New York City finally reopening, numbers still aren’t at pre-pandemic levels, but there’s a lot of drama going on.

Let’s start with Disney’s theatrical day and date Disney+ release of animated pic Raya and the Last Dragon which looks to be leading the weekend with a studio-reported $2.5M Friday and an industry weekend estimate of $8.3M at 2,045 theaters. These numbers are slightly less than the $3M Friday and $9M-$10M we were hearing about, and they’re definitely less than the $14.1M that Warner Bros’ same day HBO Max release of Tom & Jerry posted last weekend. Raya‘s opening weekend is also less than Croods: A New Age‘s 3-day opening over its Thanksgiving stretch which posted $9.7M. And that’s definitely because Disney did not reach a deal with No. 3 chain Cinemark, as we first told you (thus, losing around 250 bookings), Harkins, and Canada’s Cineplex. Even with New York City open, Raya isn’t the type of movie that would rally in the city like say a Marvel movie would.

Related Story

Cinemark Won’t Be Playing Disney’s ‘Raya And The Last Dragon’: Here’s Why

Real quick, with everyone asking how New York City is doing at the B.O. after reopening with 25% capacity restrictions: Deadline has learned that the NY DMA is +614% Friday-to-Friday on account of NYC theaters coming back online after a 50 1/2 week closure. The New York DMA was the No. 1 market in the country last night with $307K.

AP

Even though these numbers on Raya aren’t as robust (for the pandemic) as we saw yesterday, the release is striking plenty of fear for rival distributors and for exhibition; particularly after Disney CEO Bob Chapek’s recent remarks Monday at a virtual investment conference hosted by Morgan Stanley in which he said things like “The consumer is probably more impatient than they’ve ever been before” and that given how the pandemic has brought a number of movies into the home, he’s not sure “there’s going back” to the way business was done prior. Even though Chapek said, “We certainly don’t want to do anything like cut the legs off a theatrical exhibition run,” many are concerned all of this is code for Disney moving forward with their theatrical day and date Disney+ model; and that Black Widow may emulate the same distribution path as Raya on May 7. Keep in mind that even if Los Angeles is reopened by then, and auditorium capacity restrictions ease, Disney still needs the rest of the world to move ahead with Black Widow and make the $1 billion grossing film that everyone wants to see, that is it for the title to remain a pure theatrical release.

What’s scaring many about Raya is that Disney gets to keep 100% of whatever they’re making from the $30 Disney+ PVOD purchase of Raya. Disney doesn’t have to split that PVOD revenue with any exhibitor. It was explained to me that Raya‘s $30 price point on Disney+ is roughly equivalent to the rental that Disney would get from five or six movie tickets. Wow. While I’ve heard Warner Bros. has been a partner with exhibition, and has made a deal on terms for their same day HBO Max titles, Disney hasn’t budged.

I’m told that Disney’s terms for Raya were a two-week minimum play with a scale that starts at a 50% rental if the film grosses ultimately between $0 and $37.5M, and then 51% if the domestic gross finals between $37.5M and $50M. While those terms aren’t stiff in a regular marketplace, we’re still in a pandemic, and people still aren’t flocking to the movies in great numbers, plus movie theaters have to compete with the whole Disney+ PVOD of it all. How fair is that for exhibition?

Black Widow
Marvel Studios

Let’s see what happens with Black Widow, and if Disney emulates a Raya theatrical-Disney+ distribution pattern for that title. I would like to give Chapek the benefit of the doubt. Back at December’s Disney Investor Day he clearly emphasized that a robust Disney+ slate wouldn’t be possible without the power of the big screen and the franchises it has created. He’s also the guy who crushed the theatrical-DVD window, starting with Alice in Wonderland back in 2010; and the studio still walked away with a $1.025 billion global gross on that movie. Disney didn’t burn down the house to keep warm back then, and I still don’t think they will now. Currently, the studio says that Black Widow is still going theatrical on May 7, and exhibition hasn’t heard otherwise, they’re just very suspicious since there weren’t any trailers for the Marvel movie on Raya this past weekend, only those for Disney’s May 28 theatrical release Cruella. 

From a sheer box office optics point of view, one can argue that Disney left money on the table with Raya by boxing out Cinemark and Canada’s Cineplex. Why would you do that with a film like Raya that has an A CinemaScore, is 95% certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes and fantastic PostTrak audience exits of 93% with an 80% recommend from the general crowd?

Only Disney knows the answer to that question. When it comes to the potential non-reporting of Disney+ Raya PVOD figures, no news is good news. For anything greater would throw the motion picture distribution model off its axis.

*******

On the upside for the Don Hall and Carlos Lopez Estrada directed feature, Raya pulled in a largely 57% female crowd with a third of those who purchased tickets being under 17 years old. The diversity breakdown was 37% Caucasian, 22% Black, 21% Asian and 20% Hispanic. Raya played best in Salt Lake City, I hear, but it had very good numbers for the pandemic in New York, Chicago, Dallas, Washington DC, Houston, Seattle, Phoenix; the list goes on.

Warners isn’t reporting numbers on Tom & Jerry today but we hear it’s headed for a No. 2 slot in its second weekend at 2,563 locations (+88) with an industry estimated Friday of $1.6M, -60% from a week ago, and 3-day of $6.75M, -52% for a ten-day running total of $23.1M. There was chatter among rivals heading into the weekend that Tom & Jerry could possibly steal No. 1 away from Raya given how that film didn’t have Cinemark. That doesn’t look to be the case, and the second weekend drop on these theatrical-HBO Max titles are steeper than expected. Remember, Wonder Woman 1984 dropped 67% in weekend 2, and that was over a New Year’s Weekend, typically a big time for moviegoing.

‘Chaos Walking’
Murray Close

Lionsgate’s much delayed $100M YA gamble Chaos Walking starring Daisy Ridley and Tom Holland is poised to lose money just like any big wide release coming out during the pandemic where 50% of all 5,8K U.S. and Canadian theaters are still closed. Industry estimates show the movie with a $1.3M Friday and 3-day of $3.7M. The diagnostics on the film with a B CinemaScore, horrible reviews at 24% Rotten, and a PostTrak of 67% and a 41% recommend indicate the movie was never going to rally even in a healthy marketplace, so the studio decided to go and not hold this feature any longer. The pic’s opening weekend is in sync with what box office sources were projecting heading into the weekend. The Doug Liman directed sci-fi feature pulled in 54% guys, 65% over 25 with the 25-34 demo repping 30% of ticket buyers. Diversity breakdown was 56% White, 20% Hispanic, 15% Black, and 11% Asian. Top markets were New York, Salt Lake City, Phoenix, Dallas, Chicago, Houston and Denver.

Courtesy of Nicole Rivelli/Focus Features

In fourth place is Focus Features’ Eddie Huang movie Boogie which did $430K at 1,252 locations yesterday on its way to a 3-day of $1.26M. Pic landed a C+ CinemaScore. Rotten Tomatoes score was low here at 44% and PostTrak OK with 70% and 55% recommend. Guys bought tickets at 53% with over 60% between 18-34, and the 18-24 demo repping over 40%. Diversity mix was 44% Black, 20% Hispanic, 18% Asian and 18% Caucasian. Boogie was best on the East Coast with New York, Philly, Boston, Chicago, and Miami among its top markets.

Universal/DreamWorks Animation’s Croods: A New Age in weekend 15 scored at 1,604 locations earned a $200K Friday, -28%, and a 3-day of $890K, -29% for a running total of $53.7M.

The overall weekend box office is estimated to gross $25.1M this past weekend, +14% from a week ago. That’s likely the combo of more theatrical wide releases and NYC back in business, however, it could have been more if Raya was a pure theatrical release.

 

 

 



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Technology

Universal Orlando’s Epic Universe theme park delays opening to 2025: report

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Universal Orlando has re-started construction on its new theme park, but it’s going to be a while before it’s open to the public, according to reports. 

Earlier this week, the resort announced that construction on its new Epic Universe park in Orlando, Florida, will begin again after an almost year-long pause because of the coronavirus pandemic. 

As a result of the delay, Epic Universe’s opening will reportedly be pushed back another two years.

According to the Orlando Sentinel, Universal told Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings that Epic Universe is now set to open in early 2025. It was previously supposed to open in 2023.

UNIVERSAL HOLLYWOOD REOPENING WITH FOOD, SHOPPING EVENT AFTER DISNEY ANNOUNCES SIMILAR EXPERIENCE

Universal did not immediately respond to Fox News’ request for comment on the delayed timeline.

‘A TOUCH OF DISNEY’: DISNEYLAND ANNOUNCES DATES, DETAILS OF TICKETED FOOD EXPERIENCE

In its announcement on Wednesday, Universal said Epic Universe “will create an entirely new level of theme park entertainment.” The 750-acre site is expected to have a new theme park, an entertainment center, hotels, shops and restaurants when it opens, the announcement said.

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However, Universal hasn’t said exactly what the park’s rides and attractions will include. 

Universal Orlando announced this week that construction on its new 750-acre Epic Universe park has restarted. 
(Universal Orlando)

Many have speculated that the park could be similar to the company’s Super Nintendo World in Japan, or that it could be inspired by the company’s Minions brand, CNBC reported.

LEGOLAND FLORIDA TO OPEN PEPPA PIG THEME PARK BASED ON ANIMATED CHILDREN’S SHOW

Construction on Epic Universe had to stop in July 2020 because of the pandemic. According to the announcement, development has restarted this week, but it will take “several months before reaching full-speed.”

Universal promised that construction on the new park will bring hundreds of jobs to Universal, thousands of jobs to Central Florida and billions of dollars into the Florida economy. 

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Epic Universe is also expected to bring an additional 14,000 permanent jobs.

“The restart of construction of Epic Universe is a terrific moment for our employees and for our theme park business in Florida,” Brian L. Roberts, Comcast’s Chairman and CEO said in a statement. “It is our single largest investment in the state and represents our enthusiasm for the spectacular park and the economic opportunities it will generate.”

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Science

Scientists read a 300-year-old sealed letter without opening it

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Scientists are using technology to read centuries-old letters sealed using “letterlocking.”


Nature Communications

The contents of a handwritten European letter sealed for 300 years are no longer a secret, thanks to a technique that let scholars peek inside virtually without damaging the intricately folded historical document. 

In the letter, dated July 31, 1697, Jacques Sennacques asks his cousin Pierre Le Pers, a French merchant in The Hague, for a certified copy of a death notice for Daniel Le Pers. That’s no history-making revelation, but the technique that revealed the request could hold promise for unlocking sealed correspondence containing historical gems across time and place.

All those years ago, Sennacques’ letter was closed using a process called “letterlocking,” a complex folding technique used globally to secure post before the invention of envelopes. Think of it like ancient encryption: Letters sealed this way couldn’t be opened without getting torn, and rips indicated a note had been tampered with before reaching the intended recipient. 

“Letterlocking was an everyday activity for centuries, across cultures, borders and social classes,” said Jana Dambrogio, the Thomas F. Peterson Conservator at MIT Libraries and one of the authors of a paper published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications that details the virtual unlocking technique. 

No paper was damaged in the reading of this letter: It was unfolded virtually. 


Nature Communications

Letterlocking played an integral role in securing physical communications before the age of modern digital cryptography. Some of the earliest letterlocking examples can be found in the Vatican Secret Archives dating back to 1494. Researchers could have just torn the letter open, but they wanted to conserve all of its folds and creases, which themselves amount to evidence about communications practices. 

“This research takes us right into the heart of a locked letter,” Dambrogio said in a statement. 

To unlock the letter, an interdisciplinary team of researchers from MIT and King’s College London turned to advanced X-ray machines designed for dentistry to produce high-resolution 3D scans that showed exactly how the paper is configured. An automated computational algorithm developed by one former and one current MIT student then produced legible images of the letter’s contents and intricate crease patterns. 

“Virtual unfolding is a computational process that analyzes CT scans of folded letterpackets and creates a flattened image of their contents,” the team said. “Our virtual unfolding pipeline generates a 3D reconstruction of the folded letter, a corresponding 2D reconstruction representing its flat state and flat images of both the surface … and each letterpacket’s crease pattern.” 

Computational algorithms have been successfully applied to scans of scrolls, books and documents with one or two folds. But the complexity of the letterlocked documents posed their own challenges. 

The letter came from the Brienne Collection, a European postmaster’s wooden trunk that contained 3,148 items, including 577 letters that were never unlocked. The research team unlocked several letters using their new technique and believes it holds promise for many other unopened letters. 

“One important example is the hundreds of unopened items among the 160,000 undelivered letters in the Prize Papers, an archive of documents confiscated by the British from enemy ships between the 17th and 19th centuries,” the study reads. “If these can be read without physically opening them, much rare letterlocking data can be preserved.” 

Before the researchers’ computational analysis, they only knew the name of the intended recipient written on the outside of the locked letter. 

“When we got back the first scans of the letter packets, we were instantly hooked,” said Amanda Ghassaei, who helped write the publicly available code for virtually unfolding the letters. “Sealed letters are very intriguing objects, and these examples are particularly interesting because of the special attention paid to securing them shut.” 

Let the epistolary history unfold. 

CNET’s Corinne Reichert contributed to this report. 

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Entertainment

‘Tom & Jerry’ $12.5M Opening To $12.5M At Box Office, Second Best During Pandemic – Deadline

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Updated Sunday AM after Saturday 7:51 AM post: Refresh for chart and more analysis Warner Bros.’ day and date release of Tom & Jerry in theaters and on HBO Max has scored the second-best opening during the pandemic, since theaters reopened in August with $13.7M at 2,475 theaters. Warner Bros. also holds the domestic box office opening record during the pandemic with its Christmas release of Wonder Woman 1984 which did $16.4M. Worldwide Tom & Jerry did $38.8M. The pic I hear before marketing costs, carried a production budget of $79M.

That number also beats the 3-day of Universal/Dreamworks Animation’s Croods: New Age, which took in $9.7M over the 3-day weekend Thanksgiving weekend.

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‘Tom & Jerry’
Warner Bros. Pictures

The Tim Story directed, Chris DeFaria produced animation live action hybrid also posted an opening day of $4M on Friday. Warners observes there was a big number of private party theatrical auditorium rentals by families. Warners says Tom & Jerry has over 10k auditorium bookings to date.

Warners posted these numbers on Tom & Jerry in a current exhibition landscape where just under 50% of all 5,8K United States and Canadian theaters are open, with No. 2 chain Regal still closed. On the upside, New York City is set to open this coming Friday with 25% capacity limits in time for the second weekend of Tom & Jerry, Disney’s Raya and the Last Dragon (which will also be available on Disney+ for $30 a pop) and Lionsgate’s YA sci-fi feature Chaos Waking. More positive news this weekend: 11 out of 58 counties in California have reopened cinemas at 25% capacity including Humboldt, Marin, San Mateo, Shasta and Yolo. Trinity County
has moved from the Orange Tier to the more restrictive Red Tier (25% capacity). Quebec also reopened on Friday.

Moviegoing is only going to get better: Los Angeles is expected to reopen within the next month as well, and then we only have to wait on capacity restrictions easing.

Tom & Jerry in early estimates, posted $3.2M in China on Sunday for a running total of $12.3M; the movie was beat out by local titles Hi, Mom! and Detective Chinatown 3. Nancy will have more intel soon.

CinemaScore is great at A- and Cinemascore/Screen Engine’s PostTrak updated clocked 79% positive rate and four stars. On CinemaScore, Story’s movie saw  70% of the audience under 35 years old who scored the film an A, and 17% of the guys under 18 demo giving it an A+.

Tom & Jerry earned a good 60% recommend for the general audiences and a 66% recommend from kids. Kids under 12 also gave the cat and mouse feature 4 1/2 stars, and 90 positive rating. Female-male ratio was 51% to 49%, with 46% under 17 years old on PostTrak. Diversity turnout showed 35% Hispanic, 33% Caucasian, 21% African American and 11% Asian/Other.

DreamWorks Animation

The expectation is that if Universal can have a slow burn on Croods: A New Age, which hit $52.3M stateside this weekend and has been No. 1 five out of its 14 weekends running, then so can Tom & Jerry. 

Again, let’s not get ahead of ourselves: These box office numbers aren’t at pre-pandemic levels, but it shows that the financial tide at the domestic box office is turning.

There was a fear when cinemas first reopened in some parts of the country that families would not venture out. But clearly, with vaccinations increasing, the fear about returning to the movies is slowly subsiding.

Again, we’ve been saying this for the past couple of months, but Warners is really trying to make these movies work in those areas of the country where cinemas are open, despite the day-and-date strategy. Most of the time, Netflix and Amazon movies don’t make any money in their limited theatrical run-up to being on those respective streamers (in regards to the latter, they began adopting this limited theatrical/streaming strategy with their Scott Z. Burns Sundance acquisition, The Report).

The top 10 locations this weekend for Tom & Jerry were: 1. Cinemark North Canton (Ohio), 2. Cinemark Pharr Town Center (Texas), 3. West-Wind Sacramento Drive-In, 4. AMC Garden State (Paramus, NJ), 5. Santikos Casa Blanca (San Antonio), 6. Cinemark Egyptian (Hanover, MD), 7. West-Wind Solano Twin Drive-In (Concord, CA), 8. Cinemark West Jordan (Salt Lake City), 9. West-Wind Glendale Drive-In (Phoenix), and 10. Cinergy Odessa (Texas).

The top 10 DMA markets for the animated feature was 1. Dallas, 2. Greater New York Metro area (including top theatres from nearby New Jersey, Long Island, etc.), 3. Chicago, 4. Houston, 5. Phoenix, 6. Salt Lake City, 7. Atlanta, 8. Detroit, 9. Denver, and 10. Boston.

In regards to the social media wattage on Tom & Jerry, RelishMix reports “During this experimental phase of re-dating and day/dating, we’re seeing titles that run quick campaigns and streamline their marketing spends knowing the move to VOD and streaming will trigger quickly. But on Tom & Jerry, there’s an element that stands out. Tom & Jerry playlists on YouTube, which are perfect for parental managed kids viewing, have viewing metrics that are usually only seen on Vevo music video channels. The top Tom & Jerry compilation video has clocked 546M views for one video. And the top ten Tom & Jerry videos combined, most all on the Warner Bros Kids YouTube channels have over 2.1 billion views (yes, billion). Note, the WB Pictures YouTube channel with 15 years of marketing materials has 9.5M subscribers and the Warner Bros Kids channel has 16.3M subscribers. The target for HBO Max is crystal clear.”

Tom & Jerry counted a social media footprint across YouTube views, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter just under 42M heading into the weekend. Over on TikTok, videos and posts around Tom & Jerry are “moderate and scattered” per RelishMix “without significant stand-outs”. Note, Warner Bros, used TikTok greatly with the HBO Max debut of Scoob back in May, a result that yielded 4 billion global views; that movie originally dated to go theatrical before Covid.

Star Chloe Grace Moretz counts 20.3M followers on Twitter and Instagram, clearly the pic’s social media star. She interviewed Tom the cat and posted the video on Instagram:

WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar also gave a shoutout to Tom & Jerry on his Twitter Friday:

Searchlight Pictures

Searchlight didn’t report numbers on Nomadland, but even with its availability on Hulu, industry estimates peg the Chloe Zhao-directed drama at $333K in its fourth weekend at 1,200 locations. A $3M final domestic B.O. is pegged as its likely endgame in U.S. and Canada. Again, it will be interesting to see what impact NYC arthouses have on that movie including Warner Bros.’ awards season contender Judas and the Black Messiah as well as Focus’ contenders, Land and Promising Young Woman. 

The top 10 chart:

1.) Tom & Jerry (WB) 2,475 theaters, 3-day: $13.7M/Wk 1

2.) The Croods: A New Age (Uni) 1,912 theaters (-1), 3-day: $1.2M (-30%)/Total: $52.3M/Wk 14

3.) The Little Things (WB) 1,853 theaters (-208), 3-day: $925K (-23%)/Total: $12.9M/Wk 5

4.) Wonder Woman 1984 (WB) 1,534 theaters (-110)/3-day: $710K (-12%)/Total: $43.6M/Wk 10

5.) The Marksman (Open) 1,414 theaters (-229)/3-day: $700K (-10%)/Total: $12.3M/Wk 7

6.) Judas and the Black Messiah (WB) 1,350 theaters (-556), 3-day: $500K (-45%)/Total: $4.1M/Wk 3

7.) Monster Hunter (Sony) 1,238 theaters (-73) 3-day: $460K (-12%)/Total $14M/Wk 11

8.) Land (Focus) 1,349 theaters (+98)/3-day: $355K (-29%)/Wk 3

9.) Nomadland (Searchlight) 1,200 theaters (+25), 3-day: $333K (-33)/Total $1.1M/Wk 4

10.) News of the World (Uni) 992 theaters (-169), 3-day: $200K (-17%)/Total: $11.96M/Wk 10



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World

Climate change: The Arctic sea ice retreats, opening shipping lanes

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The Arctic is now open for business year-round after a large commercial ship sailed the Northern Sea Route from Jiangsu, China, to a Russian gas plant on the Arctic coast, for the first time ever during the month of February, when winter temperatures normally make the icy waterway impassable.

The tanker, owned by Russian maritime shipping company Sovcomflot, was able to make the trip through the Arctic sea ice because it is no longer frozen all winter due to human-induced global warming.

The ability to make this trip 365 days a year opens up vast new possibilities for the shipping industry, which carries 80 percent of the world’s cargo by volume and 70 percent of global trade by value. But it also raises concerns about how the scramble to capitalize on the new route could upend geopolitics.

To get a better understanding of what this new possibility in the Arctic means for the rest of the world, I spoke to Juliette Kayyem, Belfer senior lecturer in international security at Harvard’s Kennedy School.

Kayyem served in the Obama administration as assistant secretary for intergovernmental affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, where she played a key role in handling major operations, including the administration’s response to the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Kayyem reacted on Twitter to the news of the Arctic tanker’s historic trip, writing that the moment was “so consequential you can’t get your head around it.” To find out more about why she thinks this is so monumental, I gave her a call. Our discussion, edited for length and clarity, is below.

Jariel Arvin

What exactly has changed with this news?

Juliette Kayyem

In the past, trade had to work in a north-to-south way, just because the Arctic had never been navigational. Now ships can go from Europe to China on an east-west route. It’s going to put more competition on the north-south passages to retain their commercial activity.

Eighty percent of the world’s goods by volume are shipped by cargo, so this is no joke. For 100 years, cargo has essentially followed the same pathway through the Suez Canal. So, with days cut off transit time, as well as [not having to pay] all the taxes and fees that align with being a port city or canal like the Panama Canal and the Suez Canal — that’s all going to change.

Jariel Arvin

How does this change, for example, how a Chinese cargo ship would have traveled?

Juliette Kayyem

To do Europe alone, China would have gone from the Netherlands through the Suez Canal — south of India, up to China to Dalian, which is their main area. Now if you look at the route, it’s cut off by half. Now, you can go the northern route, east down. It’s mind-boggling.

Jariel Arvin

So, Russia and China are obviously going to be interested in moving goods up through that Northern Sea Route. Which other countries will be vying for a stake?

Juliette Kayyem

Japan, Vietnam, Russia, pretty much every country. Australia is going to want to go through there. I mean, why wouldn’t they, since it’s so much shorter? Now there’s going to be pressure and competition. Now you’ve just [opened up] a huge, huge competitive market.

Jariel Arvin

What about the US?

Juliette Kayyem

The United States, because we don’t really sign treaties anymore, is not signatory to the Law of the Sea. But we are a member of the Arctic Council, which is a sort of ad hoc [international] system to try to deal with everything in the Arctic, from who has access to what minerals to [how to manage] traffic.

Jariel Arvin

What do you think will be the impact of this new competition?

Juliette Kayyem

There are two pieces: the environmental piece and the geopolitical piece. For the environment, this is the equivalent of an ocean opening up. The waters are going to move in ways that they hadn’t moved before. The ice is melting in ways that mean that the water has to go somewhere, and that is going to cause sea level rise, impacting coastal cities throughout the world.

And the role of human activity in accelerating this change is undeniable. Global warming has impacted the Arctic considerably. As I’ve written for the Boston Globe, it was about a decade ago that things began changing up there in the sense that countries were positioning themselves to take over.

You’re going to start seeing cruise lines. It’s beautiful up there. So this is why even 10 years ago, I started to feel — anticipatory nauseousness is how I would describe it — anticipatory because we’ve known the opening of the Arctic to all sorts of traffic was going to happen, and nauseous because there’s no question that human-induced climate change was having a major impact.

Jariel Arvin

So what do you think the future holds for the Arctic in terms of geopolitics?

Juliette Kayyem

You’re going to have a lot of countries with a lot of interest, without a lot of governance, and with a lot of traffic. And that, to me as a security person, spells trouble.

Jariel Arvin

Why is that trouble?

Juliette Kayyem

Well, it sets off a number of questions which bring up national security concerns. One of them is, who gets what routes when? And who gets to drill where? So let’s say a bunch of geologists discover that there’s a massive oil patch much further out so that no country has ownership of the well. So who gets to drill?

Jariel Arvin

As of right now, who is in control of helping manage these international tensions in the Arctic?

Juliette Kayyem

These are the kind of issues that the Arctic Council is going to have to deal with. It is also going to have to enforce things like offshore drilling, mineral ownership, traffic, and who gets to go first, which are all tough issues. Accidents are a huge issue. What if there’s an accident? There are now going to be a lot of issues to address.

Jariel Arvin

Is there anything that can be done about this new reality?

Juliette Kayyem

I think this new reality will mean greater US engagement in the Arctic, so this will be a big test of leadership for the Biden presidency because this is an issue in which we need a counter to Russia and China.

This also will be a big moment for John Kerry, who was pushing for greater Arctic governance against a Republican Senate when he was secretary of state and couldn’t get it through. It’s something Kerry’s been focused on a long time. And now, wearing the environmental hat as Biden’s climate envoy, the potential for him to get it done is much greater.



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Entertainment

WandaVision Episode 7 Opening Credits Hide a Stan Lee Easter Egg

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The opening of WandaVision’s seventh episode featured a series of images with Wanda’s name on them, but one had a hidden tribute.

WARNING: Minor spoilers follow for WandaVision Episode 7, “Breaking the Fourth Wall,” now streaming on Disney+.

WandaVision Episode 7 paid tribute to The Office, and this included the opening theme song. However, this opening was accompanied by a series of signs and notes with Wanda’s name on them, as well as some Easter eggs. This included the number on the license plate that has Wanda’s name on it, as well as several numbers.

One eagle-eyed viewer on Twitter caught what the numbers meant and deciphered them. The numbers — 122822 — represent Stan Lee’s birthday (December 28, 1922). Stan Lee died on November 12, 2018, at the age of 95, and this Easter egg is a touching way for the Marvel Cinematic Universe to include him, even if it isn’t a traditional cameo.

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RELATED: WandaVision’s Project Cataract Could Lead To This Multiversal Threat

Ever since Marvel movies began to make it big, Stan Lee cameoed in almost every movie that hit theaters. While he didn’t appear in Blade, he did shoot a scene that ended up on the cutting room floor. However, Lee was in the first X-Men movie as a hot dog vendor on the beach when Senator Kelly arrived after his abduction by Magneto. He went on to appear in the Spider-Man movies and the first two Fantastic Four movies.

When the MCU began, the studio made it a point to have Stan Lee cameo in all its movies. It made sense, as Stan Lee had a hand in creating many characters the MCU brought into its world, like Iron Man and Thor. As for WandaVision, his hand was also apparent, as Lee and Kirby created Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch, introducing them in X-Men #4. The duo also created Agatha Harkness, debuting the witch in Fantastic Four #94.

RELATED: Paul Bettany Discusses WandaVision Theories – But Won’t Talk Mephisto

Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Dick Ayers, Stan Goldberg and Artie Simek also brought Wanda Maximoff into the Avengers and made her a hero rather than a villain in Avengers #16. In that issue, Iron Man, Giant-Man and Thor chose to take a break and leave the Avengers, setting up a way for new members to join, including Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, all under Captain America’s leadership.

The last appearances in MCU movies for Stan Lee came posthumously in 2019. He appeared in Captain Marvel, but he passed away before the movie was released. In that appearance, he portrayed himself, reading his lines for Kevin Smith’s movie Mallrats, in which Lee appeared. Later that year in Avengers: Endgame, he was de-aged and appeared in the 1970 scene. This was the last appearance for Lee in an MCU movie. However, with Phase 4 starting, WandaVision had one more way to pay tribute to the legendary comic book creator.

Written by Jac Schaeffer and directed by Matt Shakman, WandaVision stars Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch, Paul Bettany as Vision, Randall Park as Agent Jimmy Woo, Kat Dennings as Darcy Lewis, Teyonah Parris as Monica Rambeau and Kathryn Hahn as Agnes. New episodes air Fridays on Disney+.

KEEP READING: A WandaVision Guide: News, Easter Eggs, Reviews, Recaps, Theories and Rumors

The Simpsons: How Treehouse of Horror Turned Bart & Lisa Into Superheroes


About The Author


Shawn S. Lealos
(1118 Articles Published)

Shawn S. Lealos is a freelance writer who received his Bachelor’s degree in Journalism from the University of Oklahoma with a minor in Film Studies. He has worked as a journalist for 25 years, starting in newspapers and magazines before moving to online media as the world changed. Shawn is a former member of the Society of Professional Journalists and a current voting member of the Oklahoma Film Critics Circle. He has work published on websites like The Huffington Post, Time Warner Cable, Yahoo Movies, The Movie Network, Chud, Renegade Cinema, 411mania, and Monsters & Critics. Shawn is also a published author, with a non-fiction book about the Stephen King Dollar Baby Filmmakers and has begun work on a new fiction series as well. Visit Shawn Lealos’ website to learn more about his novel writing and follow him on Twitter @sslealos.

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US

Merrick Garland attorney general hearing opening statement released

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Attorney General nominee Merrick Garland will pledge to take the lead in prosecuting those charged over the U.S. Capitol siege and vow prosecutorial independence from President Biden at his confirmation hearing Monday.

Why it matters: As attorney general, Judge Garland would oversee politically sensitive cases, including investigations into the taxes of the president’s son Hunter Biden and the origins of the probe into former President Trump’s dealings with Russia.

Driving the news: Per his prepared opening statement released Saturday night, Garland plans to tell the Senate Judiciary Committee that if confirmed, he’ll address civil rights and fight discrimination and domestic terrorism.

  • He’ll highlight his career as a prosecutor — notably his supervision of the investigation into domestic terrorist Timothy McVeigh and the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, which killed 168 people.
  • On the Capitol siege, Garland will say that he intends to “supervise the prosecution of white supremacists and others who stormed the Capitol on January 6 — a heinous attack that sought to disrupt a cornerstone of our democracy: the peaceful transfer of power to a newly elected government.”
  • On the independence of the position of attorney general, Garland will say: “The President nominates the attorney general to be the lawyer — not for any individual, but for the people of the United States.”

For the record: Garland, 68, is a Chicago native and graduate of Harvard University and Harvard Law School, who has served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit since 1997.

  • He was nominated by then-President Obama in 2016 to succeed the late Justice Antonin Scalia.
  • But then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) prevented this, insisting the replacement should be selected by the newly elected president later that year. Justice Neil Gorsuch was later confirmed instead under the Trump administration.

Of note: Former Trump administration Attorney General Bill Barr was criticized throughout his tenure by Democrats, who accused him of political interference in criminal cases on behalf of the former president — which he strongly rejected.

  • In his last press conference as attorney general in December, Barr took the rare step of publicly contradicting Trump on hot-button issues including Hunter Biden, voting machines and Russia being behind the hacking of federal agencies.

Editor’s note: This article has been updated with new details throughout.

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World

Why Britain’s anti-immigration politicians are opening the doors to thousands of Hong Kongers

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Full of bravado and often clad in black, the 21-year-old oversaw a group of 60 combative front-liners who embraced confrontational tactics against the police while demanding greater democracy in the former British colony.

Today, he is applying for asylum in the United Kingdom, and separated from his family in Hong Kong where he feels he can longer visit. Malcom believes if he returns to the Chinese city he could be arrested under a sweeping national security law imposed by Beijing on Hong Kong last June, which scaled up penalties against dissent to include punishments as severe as life imprisonment.

Since then, nearly 100 activists have been arrested under the new law. When Hong Kong police apprehended a protester friend of Malcolm’s in October, he booked a red-eye flight to London. Malcolm asked CNN not to use his real name, for fear that his family — who remain in Hong Kong — could face repercussions.

The visa does not account for the most vulnerable Hong Kongers: young pro-democracy protesters, like Malcolm, who were born after 1997 and are therefore not eligible. But it is nonetheless remarkable in its scope — in a city of 7.5 million people, 5.2 million Hong Kongers and their dependents are eligible for it.

It’s also remarkable for another reason: it has been pioneered by the same British politicians who engineered the UK’s break from the European Union, in part, to curb immigration.

It sets a markedly different tone for the Conservative government, and its cheerleaders in the British press, who have spent the past decade pushing anti-immigrant policies. And critics say it is predicated on a flawed idea of Hong Kongers as a “model minority” who will need no support to settle into a new life in the UK.

A different tone

The UK voted to leave the European Union in 2016 following a campaign dominated by anti-immigration rhetoric — much of it emanating from the same politicians who are now running the government.

In one campaign missive, pro-Brexit lawmakers Boris Johnson, Priti Patel, and Michael Gove stoked fears that rising numbers of southern European immigrants would “put further strain on schools and hospitals,” and that “class sizes will rise and waiting lists will lengthen if we don’t tackle free movement.”
Yet last June, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the visa pathway for millions of Hong Kongers, describing the offer as being “one of the biggest changes in our visa system in history.” The same politicians and media houses that warned darkly of an influx of foreigners during the Brexit campaign raised few objections this time around.
Last month, Priti Patel, now the Home Secretary, said she looked forward to welcoming Hong Kongers “to our great country.” Yet in 2016, Patel campaigned against what she described as “uncontrolled migration” from the EU, and last year she is reported to have considered plans to send those seeking asylum in the UK to two Atlantic islands more than 4,000 miles away.
Welcoming Hong Kongers has become one of the few issues in British politics that commands bipartisan support, uniting opposition Labour, Green Party and Scottish National Party members with the hawkish, anti-China wing of the Conservative party.
The British government’s shift in attitude could echo a change in public opinion — migration concerns in the UK appear to have softened considerably in recent years. The jury is out as to why public attitudes have shifted, but it has coincided with immigration dropping off the agenda as a political issue in the past few years.

There is also a feeling of colonial “indebtedness” to the people of Hong Kong, says Jonathan Portes, a Professor of Economics and Public Policy at King’s College London.

Some of Brexit’s biggest backers are championing the scheme “in a pretty explicit break with the approach of [Margaret] Thatcher in the run up to 1997,” Portes said, explaining that the late UK Prime Minister “wanted to limit, as much as possible, the number of Hong Kong Chinese who came here, because of her wider anti-immigration views.”

Defending Hong Kong against the creep of authoritarianism has also become a moral issue in the UK, which has hardened its attitude towards China in the past year. The UK has barred Chinese telecoms giant Huawei from playing a part in the country’s 5G network, and has been vocal in its criticism of Beijing for human rights abuses against Uyghurs and other minorities in the Xinjiang region.

Model minority

Perhaps one of the reasons the Hong Kong visa scheme has been so lauded is that its recipients are also being sold to the British public by hardline Brexiteers as a caricatured model minority, say critics.

Hong Kong nationals “wouldn’t cost our taxpayers a penny… [they] would bring their own wealth,” Conservative peer Daniel Hannan wrote in the right-wing Daily Telegraph newspaper. “And once they arrived, they would generate economic activity for the surrounding region, just as they did in their home city.”

The Home Office estimates that up to 153,700 BN(O) holders will arrive in the country this year — and estimates they could bring £2.9 billion ($4.1 bn) into the economy over five years.

Yet the reality might not be so clear cut.

Hong Kong has one of the highest GDPs per capita in the world, but it is also one of the most economically unequal places on the planet, where one in five people are estimated to be living in poverty.
A family of two adults and two children will have to pay as much as £12,000 ($16,600) in immigration-related fees and have more than £3,100 in the bank in savings, according to the UK Home Office, and that doesn’t include flights.

The language barrier (forms will need to be completed in English), and having to demonstrate the ability to accommodate and support themselves for at least six months, are also likely to put some off.

“60% of the people in Hong Kong live in public housing estates and they would find it harder [compared to Hong Kong’s white-collar workers] to settle in a foreign country,” Chan added.

Nor is it straightforward for those who are able to scrape the funds together, campaigners say. A study by civil society group Hong Kongers in Britain found that the majority of people planning to take up the visa are highly educated and financially able to support themselves through the move. Yet their main concerns about the move are finding accommodation, living costs, finding a job, and integrating into British society. More than a quarter of those surveyed worried about having trouble communicating in English.

Another challenge is the support that awaits them when they arrive in the UK.

The UK does not have a formal national integration program for immigrants. And there is no nationwide integration plan for the Hong Kongers who emigrate under the new scheme, according to Fred Wong, who works with Hong Kong ARC, a civil society group which offers Hong Kongers legal and mental health support. Wong asked CNN not to use his real name because he still has family in Hong Kong and fears for their safety.

Some of the 40 Hong Kongers who Wong is currently helping in the UK have yet to finish university or high school, while around half have never held down a job before and are struggling to get on the ladder in the UK. The UK government has no provisions to help them find jobs, set up bank accounts, or access mental health support, Wong said.

“Most of them suffer from PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder], which could be a reason or excuse [to why] they are not progressing,” Wong said. His group has been organizing free psychological consultations and talks on how to overcome insomnia, nightmares and stress, as many of the Hong Kongers Fred helps have had trouble sleeping since fleeing the territory.

The model minority narrative means that the UK government is “unprepared, and maybe a bit oblivious to the amount of support that’s needed,” Wong said.

“The UK government is working alongside civil society groups, local authorities and others to support the effective integration of BN(O) status holders and their families who choose to make our United Kingdom their home,” UKs Minister for Future Borders and Immigration, Kevin Foster, told CNN in a statement.

Support could shift

Polls show that the majority of British voters support the BN(O) scheme, but attitudes could shift as an estimated 300,000 BN(O) holders arrive in the next five years, Tanja Bueltmann, a professor of migration and diaspora at the University of Strathclyde, told CNN.

“The [ BN(O) scheme] is genuinely well meaning, but the provision around it is not very good,” she explained — something that raises questions over how many Hong Kongers will make the move in the end.

The other worry is Hong Kongers will face racially aggravated violence at a time of increasing xenophobia against people of East Asian appearance in the UK. Figures from London’s Metropolitan Police showed that people who self-identified as Chinese, and whose ethnic appearance was recorded as “Oriental,” experienced a five-fold increase in racist crimes between January 2020 and March 2020. Polling done in June found that three quarters of people of Chinese ethnicity in the UK had experienced being called a racial slur.
During an October debate on racism against the Chinese and East Asian community in Parliament, Scottish National Party lawmaker David Linden said some of his constituents “described the attacks against them, with restaurants and take-outs being vandalized and boycotted and victims being punched, spat at and coughed on in the street and even verbally abused and blamed for the coronavirus pandemic.”

London-based Hong Kong Watch and 10 other civil society groups wrote to the government in January expressing concern about the lack of a “meaningful plan in place to ensure that the new arrivals properly integrate … local authorities do not have specific policies, strategies or the creative bandwidth to welcome and integrate Hong Kong arrivals into their communities.”

“The government must learn the lessons from past failures and take pre-emptive action now,” their letter read.

‘In limbo’

In the meantime, up to 350 Hong Kong dissidents between the ages of 18 and 24 are believed to be currently “stuck in limbo” in the UK, according to Wong from Hong Kong ARC. Being born after 1997, they are not eligible for the BN(O) scheme.

Some are in the country on tourist visas, biding their time until the UK government creates a policy that considers them, or until Canada begins its planned work-visa pathway for young Hong Kong dissidents. Australia has offered a pathway for permanent residency for Hong Kong students and skilled workers currently in the country.

But pandemic-related travel restrictions, as well as a lack of funds, mean many have had to rely on the generosity of civil society groups for a stipend, food and even accommodation.

Others, like Malcolm, have already applied for political asylum in the UK. The process can take more than a year. Asylum seekers are not allowed to work or open a bank account while their claim is being processed; they will be charged higher international fees if they attend a UK university.
And campaigners say there is no guarantee that pleas for asylum will be granted. According to the Refugee Council, in the year to September 2020, only 49% of initial decisions by the Home Office resulted in a grant of asylum or other form of protection.

Many asylum-seekers instead have to rely on asylum appeals through the courts to provide them with refugee status.

“The pro-democracy protests would not have existed without them [young activists], and without the protests there would not have been the BN(O) scheme — but they’re the ones who are being left behind,” said Chan.

Malcolm says he is luckier than most, having a sizeable inheritance to survive on, and a network of contacts that helped find him accommodation outside London. He hopes to apply for college once he gains asylum, but in the meantime has started to financially support around 20 dissidents in the UK and Hong Kong. He says that the British government has not done enough to help his generation.

‘Practice makes perfect’

Hong Konger Sze, who asked CNN not to use her full name because her family still lives in Hong Kong, quit her job as a high school geography teacher and came to the UK in October on holiday to visit some friends.

At the end of her two-week trip, Sze decided to stay. She told CNN she plans to apply for BN(O) visa at the end of this month and is living off her savings in a flat she rents with a friend in North London in the meantime. Sze has been looking into roles as a geography teaching assistant or tutor as her Hong Kong teaching qualifications are recognized in the UK. When asked if her halting English will be a liability, Sze says “practice makes perfect.”

The 28-year-old said China’s incursion into everyday life in Hong Kong had influenced her decision to stay, as had the fact that being in the UK means she has the “freedom to do what I want and even protest every week,” without fear of political retribution.

It would be intolerable to live in Hong Kong now, especially since teachers have been compelled to “teach students about the [national] security law,” she said.

Sze has settled into London life: She already has strong opinions on the snail’s pace of London buses and is counting the days to when lockdown ends and she can go shopping on Oxford Street.

While it can be hard to find the authentic Cantonese cuisine she grew up eating in Hong Kong, Sze marvels at how much cheaper food is at British supermarkets.

“The food quality is better, the price is cheaper and the rent is cheaper,” she told CNN.

Sze cannot get a job until her BN(O) visa is approved, but she is optimistic that the UK’s coronavirus-induced economic slump will not get in the way of her finding work. “I am open to any [job] option — it really depends on how much savings I have,” she said.

But her biggest concern is the fate of fellow dissidents going through the asylum process, and whether her compatriots who move to the UK will give up the fight for independence back home.

“Hong Kongers should never give up, no matter if they’ve left Hong Kong or not,” she said.



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Business

Delayed opening Tuesday at Prisma Health COVID-19 vaccine distribution site

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Prisma Health has delayed Tuesday’s open of many COVID-19 vaccination sites in the Upstate for Tuesday, Feb. 9 until noon. >>For the very latest from Prisma click here. WYFF News 4’s Kylie Jones was at the Greenville Kmart site on Tuesday afternoon. Watch her report above or below: Prisma announced Monday afternoon that the hospital system would not be able to hold any walk-in vaccinations the rest of the week. A release from Prisma outlined the two factors that led to this decision:”First, the delivery of our supply was changed at the last minute on Friday. We were told our supply would come in stages over several days this week, instead of Monday and Tuesday mornings. This morning we received only a partial supply delivery for the Upstate – and we still do not know the amount of the rest of supply we will receive this week for the Upstate or the Midlands. “The second factor is that the 65-69-year-old group showed up in overwhelming numbers today, and we have exhausted all of our walk-in vaccine supply for this week.”People who are due for their second dose – but who did not have an appointment – should now make an appointment on Prisma Health MyChart, officials said. As a reminder, officials said, the vaccination card is not an appointment. Officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have said that second doses can occur anytime between 21-42 days after the first dose. “As we receive our additional vaccine supply this week, we will open up second-dose appointments that match our supply for the remainder of the week,” officials said.For real-time updates at Prisma Health vaccination sites, visit www.PrismaHealth.org/Vaccine. Those without access to computers may also call 833-2PRISMA (833-277-4762) for assistance, which is currently experiencing very high volumes. We are working to expand the capacity.

Prisma Health has delayed Tuesday’s open of many COVID-19 vaccination sites in the Upstate for Tuesday, Feb. 9 until noon.

>>For the very latest from Prisma click here.

WYFF News 4’s Kylie Jones was at the Greenville Kmart site on Tuesday afternoon. Watch her report above or below:

Prisma announced Monday afternoon that the hospital system would not be able to hold any walk-in vaccinations the rest of the week.

A release from Prisma outlined the two factors that led to this decision:

“First, the delivery of our supply was changed at the last minute on Friday. We were told our supply would come in stages over several days this week, instead of Monday and Tuesday mornings. This morning we received only a partial supply delivery for the Upstate – and we still do not know the amount of the rest of supply we will receive this week for the Upstate or the Midlands.

“The second factor is that the 65-69-year-old group showed up in overwhelming numbers today, and we have exhausted all of our walk-in vaccine supply for this week.”

People who are due for their second dose – but who did not have an appointment – should now make an appointment on Prisma Health MyChart, officials said.

As a reminder, officials said, the vaccination card is not an appointment.

Officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have said that second doses can occur anytime between 21-42 days after the first dose.

“As we receive our additional vaccine supply this week, we will open up second-dose appointments that match our supply for the remainder of the week,” officials said.

For real-time updates at Prisma Health vaccination sites, visit www.PrismaHealth.org/Vaccine. Those without access to computers may also call 833-2PRISMA (833-277-4762) for assistance, which is currently experiencing very high volumes. We are working to expand the capacity.

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