Latest news with #RachelZegler
Fast Company
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Fast Company
The new ‘Hunger Games' movie is holding an open casting call—and TikTok's wacky auditions do not disappoint
If you've ever fancied your chances in the Hunger Games, now you have the opportunity to volunteer as tribute. Lionsgate just announced an open audition call for a minor role in the upcoming prequel, The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping. 'To audition, show us your best: act out a scene, perform a song, or surprise us with something completely new,' the movie's X account shared last week. 'All talents welcome. No previous experience necessary.' Many fans and budding actors are now eagerly taking their shot at being a part of the beloved movie franchise. After all, Rachel Zegler, who starred as Lucy Gray Baird in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, landed her breakout role through an open casting call. However, if the producers were hoping the internet would take the auditions seriously, they clearly haven't spent enough time on TikTok. A cursory scroll through the hashtag #SOTRCastingContest sees everything from creators pretending to be a tribute running from the cornucopia in the games, to getting into character as a cleaner in the Hunger Games arena. One TikTok creator performed a dramatic retelling of Hunger Games main character Katniss' monologue from Mockingjay Part One, but in the voice of White Lotus star Jennifer Coolidge. (Perfection.) Another TikToker proved she had the acting chops for the role of 'the potato that Beetee works on,' while a third auditioned for the role of 'one of the goose eggs katniss bring haymitch in the end of SOTR.' Yet another TikToker offered their interpretation of the supporting role of 'President Snow's milk'—'Can't wait to see you in the movie,' one person commented. 'They're gonna regret that open casting call,' another added. Serious or not, there is still time to get your audition in before entries close on June 6, 2025 at 11:59 p.m. PT. The chosen actor will join Kieran Culkin as Caesar Flickerman, Elle Fanning as Effie Trinket, Ralph Fiennes as Coriolanus Snow, Joseph Zada as Haymitch Abernathy, and Maya Hawke as Wiress in the Haymitch-focused prequel set to hit screens November 20, 2026. Entrants must be a U.S. resident and over the age of 18. May the odds be ever in your favor.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Five arrested over pro-Palestine protests at Gal Gadot filming in UK
Five protesters have been arrested after reportedly targeting the central London set of Gal Gadot's upcoming film The Runner. Metropolitan Police responded to the Westminster set on Wednesday, where three people were arrested for harassment, as well as unlawfully obstructing access to a workplace. Another two were arrested over previous protests. All five individuals remain in custody. Police said the set was hit with demonstrations 'solely because an actress involved in the production is Israeli.' 'While we absolutely acknowledge the importance of peaceful protest, we have a duty to intervene where it crosses the line into serious disruption or criminality,' said Superintendent Neil Holyoak in a statement. "I hope today's operation shows we will not tolerate the harassment of or unlawful interference with those trying to go about their legitimate professional work in London." Gadot, who was born in Israel and served in the IDF, has previously expressed her support for Israel, sparking pro-Palestine protests at her Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony in March. Her and Snow White co-star Rachel Zegler's opposing stances also hit headlines this year and plagued the released of the Disney live-action movie. The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic & Cultural Boycott of Israel (Pacbi) has previously said Gadot films should be boycotted, claiming she has shown support for Israel's military campaign in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
Business Insider
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Business Insider
The 'Lilo & Stitch' box office numbers show Disney learned a major lesson after the 'Snow White' debacle
Disney's "Lilo & Stitch" broke Memorial Day box office records with $341.7 million worldwide. It's a major win for Disney, whose most recent live-action remake, "Snow White," was a commercial flop. "Lilo & Stitch" shows that the studio will fare better if they avoid remaking their legacy titles. Memorial Day is a relatively sleepy time of year at the box office, but this holiday weekend, one special extraterrestrial got audiences to theaters in droves. Disney's live-action " Lilo & Stitch" remake broke records over the holiday, notching the best numbers ever over the four-day weekend with a colossal $341.7 million worldwide. It's a relatively quick reversal of fortune for Disney, whose previous live-action remake, "Snow White," was a critical and commercial flop just two months ago, when the $250 million-budgeted movie made $42 million its opening weekend in March. The success of "Lilo & Stitch" — and the Memorial Day box office in general, where Tom Cruise brought Paramount's " Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning" to a franchise-best $77 million domestic opening and a worldwide gross of over $200 million — is a heartening sign for the post-COVID movie theater business. It also offers some clues into what does and doesn't resonate with audiences when it comes to Disney's increasingly hit-or-miss live-action remakes. Disney needs to be more selective in doing live-action remakes "Snow White" had its troubles from the start — there was online controversy over how it depicted the seven dwarfs, then costars Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot publicly took opposing sides on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — but the biggest was that Disney even dared to take on the holy grail of animated movies in the first place. 1937's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" isn't just a beloved work; it's the first animated feature film Walt Disney Studios released. Not only was Disney trying to reboot the ultimate Disney classic, but it was attempting to modernize an out-of-date story for the people who come to a movie like this: children. That last point was never a problem for "Lilo & Stitch." The 2002 animated comedy about a trouble-making alien who befriends a young Hawaiian girl has had three direct-to-video sequels and three TV series in the two decades since its release. The IP — not to mention the merch, which is some of the most popular in the Disney library — has been embedded in the minds of children who have watched some version of the characters since birth. And for their parents, there's a sense of nostalgia that motivates them to want to see it, too. Checking both those boxes is hard for a title that was released 88 years ago to pull off. "Snow White" proved what previous lackluster Disney live-action releases like "Dumbo" and "Mary Poppins Returns" already hinted at: that Disney needs to leave the legacy titles alone. The PG-rated movie is box office king Sure, R-rated movies might be flashier and sexier, and PG-13 movies offer a moderate amount of edge, but there's a reason PG movies are making a resurgence at the box office: they're for everyone. Since January, the studios have released nine PG-rated movies, and they have been cash cows. For example, along with "Lilo & Stitch," there was DreamWorks Animation's "Dog Man," which grossed $144 million worldwide, and Warner Bros' " A Minecraft Movie," which is nearing $1 billion in worldwide gross. This comes after a 2024 where four of the top five box office earners were PG-rated (" Inside Out 2," " Wicked," "Moana 2," "Despicable Me 4"). Thankfully for the health of the 2025 summer box office, there's more PG-rated fare ahead, like the live-action release of Universal's "How to Train Your Dragon" and Pixar's "Elio," both of which are out in June. Asked about what the Memorial Day weekend box office indicates for the rest of the summer's numbers, Comscore senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian was optimistic. "Buckle up," he said. "We're going to have one hell of a summer."
Telegraph
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Movies have gone woke – and this expert can prove when it started
For decades, Hollywood has dismissed claims that it infuses films with a Left-wing agenda. But viewers who are sick of seeing politics shoehorned into cinema finally have data on their side to prove it. An analysis of more than 50,000 films found that movies really have become more 'woke' over time. Stephen Follows, an industry expert, determined that since the 1970s, films focused on inclusion and representation have been on the rise, with the most dramatic increase from the early 2000s onwards. His analysis of 51,240 features from 1940 to the present day determined that there had been an increase in those with a social justice subtext, heavy-handed messaging and a focus on representation in their casts. Mr Follows, who publishes a newsletter on the online platform Substack, used AI tools to compare general elements of plot from more than 20,000 of the films, and found that 'LGBTQ+ narratives gained visibility in the early 1970s, returned prominently in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and have risen sharply again in recent years'. It comes after the remake of Snow White became a focus for audience anger over what was seen as the increasing 'wokeness' of modern films. The movie provoked a major row over the casting of Rachel Zegler, a Latin American-heritage star, who publicly criticised the fairytale's original Prince Charming – cut from the new film – as 'creepy'. It was also reported to have made a loss at the box office. Mr Follows' data show that films have lost subtlety in their political messaging, making the politics more obvious to audiences. He looked at a vast database of reviews to glean the overall themes of each film, and compared them to a list of 'woke' giveaways. These were themes of inclusion, some kind of social justice subtext, plots with a clear agenda, heavy-handed messaging, and a focus on representation in casting. All of these were found to have been rising relentlessly over recent decades. For instance, only around 5 per cent of films mentioned social reform and rights in the mid-1970s. Today that has risen to more than 10 per cent. Casting backlash Some films have faced a backlash over their obvious focus on representation in casting, with an all-female Ghostbusters remake losing hundreds of millions in 2016 after fans reacted angrily to the gender-swapping casting. Casting decisions also proved contentious for the Little Mermaid live-action remake in 2023, for which Halle Bailey, a black actress, was chosen to play Ariel. Song lyrics about kissing were also tweaked to ensure due attention was paid to consent. Other films that struggled at the box office have attempted to include greater LGBT representation, including Lightyear, a Toy Story prequel featuring a lesbian kiss. Analysis found that direct story-telling on a particular theme, such as feminism, has increased over the years, with films like Roe v Wade and Suffragette clear examples. Audiences have become impatient with some perceived political messaging. In television, the BBC's Doctor Who has become increasingly unpopular, with many viewers feeling that 'woke' storylines had weakened the series. It has included a non-binary villain, a pregnant male alien, the transgender daughter of the Doctor's companion, and suggestions that Doctor Who is gay and attracted to Isaac Newton in one time-travelling adventure. The viewership of the programmes, which currently stars Ncuti Gatwa in the lead role, has shrunk by about two million since 2021.
Forbes
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Box Office: How ‘Lilo & Stitch' Is Erasing Disney's ‘Snow White' Flop
Voice of Chris Sanders as Stitch in "Lilo & Stitch" and Rachel Zegler in "Snow White." Two months after Disney's live-action Snow White was released, the studio's live-action version of Lilo & Stitch is making up for the major misfire with a massive Memorial Day weekend box office. Based on the 2002 animated feature film hit of the same name, Lilo & Stitch, per Deadline's projections, is eyeing a monolithic four-day holiday weekend opening of anywhere between $175 million to $180 million from 4,420 North American theaters. What's even more encouraging is that the film is handily defeating pre-release projections and doing so by going head-to-head against Tom Cruise's big-budget action-espionage movie Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, which itself is opening to a franchise-best $77 million opening in its first four-day frame, Deadline reported. On the other hand, Disney's Snow White — which starred Rachel Zegler in the title role and Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen — had no real competition when it opened in theaters on March 21, earning an anemic $42.2 million from 4,200 theaters domestically. In most cases, a $42 million take is a solid number, but given Snow White had a reported $270 million before prints and advertising, it became pretty apparent at the end of the film's first weekend that Disney's live-action adaptation of the 1937 animated classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was not going to live happily ever after. Maia Keoloha as Lilo and the voice of Chris Sanders as Stitch in "Lilo & Stitch." So why, exactly are Disney executives likely breathing a major sigh of relief two mere days into the release of Lilo & Stitch? For one, the already beloved tale of a lonely orphaned 6-year-old girl (Maia Kealoha) befriending a blue, furry alien experiment gone awry cost $100 million to make and $100 million to market worldwide, according to Variety, which is no doubt an expensive production but a bargain in comparison to the amount Disney spent to make Snow White. Perhaps more importantly, though, Lilo & Stitch opened in theaters without being hampered by any notable Snow White-like controversies. Sure, fans and critics will always find reasons to complain when a beloved Disney animated property is adapted into a live-action film, but you didn't find any of the stars of Lilo & Stitch making snipes about the 2002 film being dated or outside parties criticizing casting decisions. Also, there were no divisive political social media posts from the Lilo & Stitch cast members nor did the CGI Stitch resemble half-rendered garden gnomes like Snow White's seven dwarf companions. In fact, Stitch looks exactly like he did in the animated film — except this time his CGI interpretation came off as an actual living, breathing creature who fit into a live-action frame — and he sounded the same. That was a given, though, considering original Stitch voice actor Chris Sanders, who also directed the original film, reprised the character's voice for the new version. Only time will tell how much money the live-action Lilo & Stitch will end up making in theaters. The film's opening weekend numbers, however, are setting up a very promising scenario. Once information about ticket sales in international markets begin to roll in, there's no doubt that those numbers — in addition to the film's projected $175 million to $180 million four-day domestic opening — will easily push Lilo & Stitch far past the $200 million mark at the worldwide box office. Considering Lilo & Stitch's international gross on Friday alone was $56.3 million, per The Numbers, it's even possible that the film could reach the $300 million mark worldwide by Monday. Snow White, meanwhile, is nearing the end of its box office run with a worldwide box office gross of $204 million in ticket sales since March 21. Of course, Lilo & Stitch's success won't ever provide an excuse for Snow White's failings, but at least the film's booming box office will help erase some of the painful memories the live-action princess movie flop created in the past few months since its release.
