Latest news with #Annenberg
Yahoo
31-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
First layers of soil to be laid on 101 Freeway wildlife crossing, the world's largest
The wildlife crossing designed to help mountain lions, deer, bobcats and other creatures safely travel over the 101 Freeway between the Simi Hills and the Santa Monica Mountains will reach a major milestone on Monday, as workers lay the first layers of soil on the overpass. The Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing spans the 10-lane freeway in Agoura Hills and will become the largest such crossing in the world. It is designed to help animals avoid being killed while roaming in urban habitats. Although it is too late to help Los Angeles' beloved mountain lion P-22 expand his territory, the passage will allow mountain lions and other wildlife to range farther for food and mates. Read more: P-22, L.A. celebrity mountain lion, euthanized due to severe injuries Small puma populations have been isolated by the freeway, and their offspring were showing signs of birth defects. 'I imagine a future for all the wildlife in our area where it's possible to survive and thrive and the placement of this first soil on the bridge means another step closer to reality,' Annenberg, a philanthropist, said in a statement. 'This extraordinary structure will serve not only animals," she said, "but it will reconnect an entire ecosystem and protect this global biodiversity hotspot — this moment marks another wonderful milestone toward that goal.' The Annenberg family's foundation was a major donor to the $92-million effort to make the bridge — which stands 21 feet and 8 inches above the freeway — a reality. Initially conceived more than three decades ago, construction of the 200-foot-long,165-foot-wide bridge began in 2022 and is expected to be completed in 2026. Read more: The world's largest wildlife crossing is finally standing. Here is what's coming next 'There's been a growing awareness in California as we're working to protect our nature, our biodiversity, that we can't just restore and protect habitat; We actually have to build connectivity between habitat,' Wade Crowfoot, secretary for the California Natural Resources Agency, said earlier when the project was announced. Monday morning, workers will begin placing soil — sandy loam mixed with lightweight volcanic aggregate — on the wildlife overpass. The process is expected to take several weeks and will require 6,000 cubic yards of soil, enough to cover three-quarters of an American football field in about 2.5 feet of soil. Then, coastal sage, buckwheat, wild grape, wildflowers, milkweed and other native plants will be planted on the roughly one-acre habitat. Oaks and other trees and plants will be planted on 12 acres on both sides of the wildlife crossing. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
31-03-2025
- General
- Los Angeles Times
First layers of soil to be laid on 101 Freeway wildlife crossing, the world's largest
The wildlife crossing designed to help mountain lions, deer, bobcats and other creatures safely travel over the 101 Freeway between the Simi Hills and the Santa Monica Mountains will reach a major milestone on Monday, as workers lay the first layers of soil on the overpass. The Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing spans the 10-lane freeway in Agoura Hills and will become the largest such crossing in the world. It is designed to help animals avoid being killed while roaming in urban habitats. Although it is too late to help Los Angeles' beloved mountain lion P-22 expand his territory, the passage will allow mountain lions and other wildlife to range farther for food and mates. Small puma populations have been isolated by the freeway, and their offspring were showing signs of birth defects. 'I imagine a future for all the wildlife in our area where it's possible to survive and thrive and the placement of this first soil on the bridge means another step closer to reality,' Annenberg, a philanthropist, said in a statement. 'This extraordinary structure will serve not only animals,' she said, 'but it will reconnect an entire ecosystem and protect this global biodiversity hotspot — this moment marks another wonderful milestone toward that goal.' The Annenberg family's foundation was a major donor to the $92-million effort to make the bridge — which stands 21 feet and 8 inches above the freeway — a reality. Initially conceived more than three decades ago, construction of the 200-foot-long,165-foot-wide bridge began in 2022 and is expected to be completed in 2026. 'There's been a growing awareness in California as we're working to protect our nature, our biodiversity, that we can't just restore and protect habitat; We actually have to build connectivity between habitat,' Wade Crowfoot, secretary for the California Natural Resources Agency, said earlier when the project was announced. Monday morning, workers will begin placing soil — sandy loam mixed with lightweight volcanic aggregate — on the wildlife overpass. The process is expected to take several weeks and will require 6,000 cubic yards of soil, enough to cover three-quarters of an American football field in about 2.5 feet of soil. Then, coastal sage, buckwheat, wild grape, wildflowers, milkweed and other native plants will be planted on the roughly one-acre habitat. Oaks and other trees and plants will be planted on 12 acres on both sides of the wildlife crossing.
Yahoo
03-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
In Pictures: Stars glam up for the Vanity Fair Oscars party
With the gongs handed out and the acceptance speeches made it was over to the Wallis Annenberg Centre for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills as the stars headed for the famous Vanity Fair after party. While glamour was still the order of the day, some stars opted for unusual or revealing outfits.
Yahoo
11-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Representation for Women on Screen Reached Parity in 2024, but People of Color Led Far Fewer Films
As you may have heard earlier today, representation for women on screen had a record year in 2024. For the first time, movies with female protagonists reached parity with male protagonists among the top 100 grossing films of the year. Those were findings as reported in an annual study from Dr. Martha Lauzen at San Diego State University, but coincidentally, they were also similar findings as confirmed by a competing report by Dr. Stacy Smith at the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, also released today. The Annenberg report, titled 'Inequality Across 1,800 Popular Films,' noted that 54 of the top grossing films of the year had a female lead or co-lead, up from just 30 in 2023. More from IndieWire Sigourney Weaver on 'The Gorge,' How 'The Witch' Terrified Her, and Reuniting with James Cameron for the Next 'Avatar' Sundance Online Leaks Shouldn't Scare Filmmakers: It's Part of the Appeal Dr. Smith also analyzed the slates of individual studios and found that Universal Pictures featured the highest percentage (66.7 percent) of female-identified leads/co leads, followed by Warner Bros. Pictures (55.6 percent), and Lionsgate (54.5 percent). Sony Pictures fared the worst, as 38.5 percent of its films across the 100 top movies last year featured a girl/woman in a leading role (only one of those was 'Madame Web'). But they were strong numbers across the board and show real progress. 'This is the first time we can say that gender equality has been reached in top-grossing films,' Dr. Smith said in a statement. 'In 2024, three of the top five films had a girl or woman in a leading role, as did five of the top 10 films — including the No. 1 film of the year, Disney's 'Inside Out 2.' We have always known that female-identified leads would make money. This is not the result of an economic awakening, but is due to a number of different constituencies and efforts — at advocacy groups, at studios, through DEI initiatives — to assert the need for equality on screen.' Smith wasn't giving out all the ballyhoos just yet. Representation for people of color on screen took a nose dive in 2024 compared to 2023, and Smith argues that Hollywood shouldn't have to choose between the two. Just a quarter of the top 100 this year had leads coming from a racial or ethnic group, compared to 37 in 2023, though it was a comparable number of underrepresented women compared to 2023. 'While this year's findings mark a historic step towards proportional representation for women there is still work to be done for women of color,' said Katherine Neff, the study's lead author. 'Another 17 years would be too long to wait to see the full range of women, their stories, and their voices brought to the biggest screens.' Both the USC study and the SDSU study also made the observation that of the female protagonists, only eight of them featured women over the age of 45, while men over 45 had far more opportunities, another age-old (pun intended) problem. Films like 'The Substance,' 'Thelma,' 'Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,' and 'Babygirl' proved there's a market for such actresses. It's a bit of inside baseball, but both studies have had something of a healthy rivalry for years. SDSU's dates back with data to 2002, and USC's dates back to 2007. Each iteration of each study tries to beat the other to press, sometimes releasing their latest reports literally after midnight on January 1. That's not to say both studies can't co-exist, and they each come at their analysis of the top films in slightly different ways. SDSU's analyzes women across all speaking roles or as 'major' characters, and it also doesn't include movies with ensembles as explicitly female-led. USC's study on the other hand does a good job of breaking down studio slates and which have more work to do. Neither of these studies however look at streaming-only titles via Netflix or other platforms, which could skew the overall results. Best of IndieWire Guillermo del Toro's Favorite Movies: 56 Films the Director Wants You to See 'Song of the South': 14 Things to Know About Disney's Most Controversial Movie The 55 Best LGBTQ Movies and TV Shows Streaming on Netflix Right Now
Associated Press
11-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Associated Press
Female protagonists reach parity with men in top-grossing films of 2024
NEW YORK (AP) — For the first time in recent history, the percentage of top-grossing films featuring female protagonists equaled the percentage of films with male protagonists, according to a pair of annual studies released Tuesday. Movies like 'Wicked,' 'Inside Out 2" and 'The Substance' lifted Hollywood's theatrical releases to gender parity in leading roles in 2024. Of the 100 top domestic grossing films in 2024, 42% had female protagonists, and 42% had male protagonists, according to a report issued by the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University. The USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, which also released its annual study Tuesday, found that 54% of the top 100 films at the box office in 2024 featured girls and women as protagonists. That's a massive jump from just the year prior, when 30% of films featured women in lead roles. In 2007, when the USC annual study began, that figure was just 20%. 'This is the first time we can say that gender equality has been reached in top-grossing films,' Stacy L. Smith, founder of the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, said in a statement. 'In 2024, three of the top five films had a girl or woman in a leading role, as did five of the top 10 films — including the number one film of the year, Disney's 'Inside Out 2,'' added Smith. 'We have always known that female-identified leads would make money. This is not the result of an economic awakening but is due to a number of different constituencies and efforts — at advocacy groups, at studios, through DEI initiatives — to assert the need for equality on screen.' Other metrics suggested the gains in leading roles masked still-endemic disparity throughout Hollywood. The percentage of female characters in speaking roles increased from 35% to 37% in 2024, according to the San Diego State study. Major female characters rose from 38% in 2023 to 39% in 2024. 'Films such as 'The Substance' pushed back hard against a culture that considers women disposable,' Lauzen stated. 'While the number of films with female protagonists rose to a historic high in 2024 after a dismally lean 2023, the percentages of women in the more stable categories of major and speaking roles reflected only minor gains.' Universal Studios, which is led by Donna Langley, was the studio with the best record for female representation. In 2024, 66.7% of Universal releases centered on girls and women, according to the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative. Neither study captures the large number of films released directly on streaming platforms or films that fall outside the top 100 movies in theaters. But for decades, those top box-office films have offered a snapshot of a film industry that has long failed to come close to reflecting the demographics of American society. That remains the case for underrepresented racial or ethnic groups, who account for roughly 42% of the U.S. population. In the top 2024 films in 2024, 25% included an underrepresented lead or co-lead, according to Annenberg. In those 25 movies, the lead or co-leads were 38.% Black, 15.4% Asian or Asian American and 3.9% Hispanic. That was a substantial decrease from 2023, when 37 leads or co-leads were people of color. 'The progress we saw for female-identified leads was not matched by the findings for underrepresented leads,' said Smith. 'This downturn signifies a lack of investment in storytelling that reflects the audience as a whole. The reality is that audiences want to see stories about women and people of color — studios and filmmakers do not have to choose between the two.'
