‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ cleans up at the Oscars

I’ve been running an Oscar pool for 13 years. I won once a long time ago. I tied with like four other people last year. Thanks to Brendan Fraser and Michelle Yeoh, I won again last night.

I loved Everything Everywhere All at Once. I’m so happy Yeoh, the Daniels, Ke Huy Quan and Jamie Lee Curtis (even though I picked Angela Bassett in my pool) won Oscars on Sunday.

No one got slapped during this year’s ceremony, but I feel like the Oscars really wanted it to happen again. Jimmy Kimmel wasted no time joking about last year’s Will Smith slap during the ceremony, remarking: “Hopefully it goes off without a hitch. Or at least without Hitch.”

OK. That’s actually a pretty good joke.

Full disclosure, I ducked out of the Oscar broadcast while The Last of Us was airing its season finale (I’ll discuss that in Thursday’s newsletter), but I did see that Pedro Pascal and Elizabeth Olsen were on stage to present an Oscar or two just as The Last of Us was wrapping up. Who figured out that timing?

Remember the year when Neil Patrick Harris kept asking us to look at a box or something? At least we didn’t do that this year. I don’t think anyone cares about the bit where Kimmel and Matt Damon are fighting, but they still brought that back this year.

Here are your Oscar winners:

Best Picture

• WINNER: Everything Everywhere All at Once
• All Quiet on the Western Front
• Avatar: The Way of Water
• The Banshees of Inisherin
• Elvis
• The Fabelmans
• Tár
• Top Gun: Maverick
• Triangle of Sadness
• Women Talking

Best Director

• WINNER: Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (Everything Everywhere All at Once)
• Todd Field (Tár)
• Martin McDonagh (The Banshees of Inisherin)
• Ruben Östlund (Triangle of Sadness)
• Steven Spielberg (The Fabelmans)

Best Actress

• WINNER: Michelle Yeoh (Everything Everywhere All at Once)
• Cate Blanchett (Tár)
• Ana de Armas (Blonde)
• Andrea Riseborough (To Leslie)
• Michelle Williams (The Fabelmans)

Best Actor

• WINNER: Brendan Fraser (The Whale)
• Austin Butler (Elvis)
• Colin Farrell (The Banshees of Inisherin)
• Paul Mescal (Aftersun)
• Bill Nighy (Living)

Best Supporting Actress

• WINNER: Jamie Lee Curtis (Everything Everywhere All at Once)
• Angela Bassett (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever)
• Hong Chau (The Whale)
• Kerry Condon (The Banshees of Inisherin)
• Stephanie Hsu (Everything Everywhere All at Once)

Best Supporting Actor

• WINNER: Ke Huy Quan (Everything Everywhere All at Once)
• Brendan Gleeson (The Banshees of Inisherin)
• Brian Tyree Henry (Causeway)
• Judd Hirsch (The Fabelmans)
• Barry Keoghan (The Banshees of Inisherin)

Best Adapted Screenplay

• WINNER: Women Talking (Screenplay by Sarah Polley)
• All Quiet on the Western Front (Screenplay by Edward Berger, Lesley Paterson & Ian Stokell)
• Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (Written by Rian Johnson)
• Living (Written by Kazuo Ishiguro)
• Top Gun: Maverick (Screenplay by Ehren Kruger and Eric Warren Singer and Christopher McQuarrie; Story by Peter Craig and Justin Marks)

Best Original Screenplay

• WINNER: Everything Everywhere All at Once (Written by Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert)
• The Banshees of Inisherin (Written by Martin McDonagh(
• The Fabelmans (Written by Steven Spielberg & Tony Kushner)
• Tár (Written by Todd Field)
• Triangle of Sadness (Written by Ruben Östlund)

Best Animated Feature Film

• WINNER: Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio
• Marcel the Shell with Shoes On
• Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
• The Sea Beast
• Turning Red

Best Cinematography

• WINNER: All Quiet on the Western Front
• Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths
• Elvis
• Empire of Light
• Tár

Best Costume Design

• WINNER: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
• Babylon
• Elvis
• Everything Everywhere All at Once
• Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris

Best Documentary Feature

• WINNER: Navalny
• All That Breathes
• All the Beauty and the Bloodshed
• Fire of Love
• A House Made of Splinters

Best Documentary Short

• WINNER: The Elephant Whisperers
• Haulout
• How Do You Measure a Year?
• The Martha Mitchell Effect
• Stranger at the Gate

Best Film Editing

• WINNER: Everything Everywhere All at Once
• The Banshees of Inisherin
• Elvis
• Tár
• Top Gun: Maverick

Best International Feature Film

• WINNER: All Quiet on the Western Front
• Argentina, 1985
• Close
• EO
• The Quiet Girl

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

• WINNER: The Whale
• All Quiet on the Western Front
• The Batman
• Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
• Elvis

Best Original Score

• WINNER: All Quiet on the Western Front
• Babylon
• The Banshees of Inisherin
• Everything Everywhere All at Once
• The Fabelman

Best Original Song

• WINNER: “Naatu Naatu” from RRR (Music by M.M. Keeravaani; Lyric by Chandrabose)
• “Applause” from Tell It like a Woman (Music and Lyric by Diane Warren)
• “Hold My Hand” from Top Gun: Maverick (Music and Lyric by Lady Gaga and BloodPop)
• “Lift Me Up” from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Music by Tems, Rihanna, Ryan Coogler and Ludwig Goransson; Lyric by Tems and Ryan Coogler)
• “This Is A Life” from Everything Everywhere All at Once (Music by Ryan Lott, David Byrne and Mitski; Lyric by Ryan Lott and David Byrne)

Best Production Design

• WINNER: All Quiet on the Western Front
• Avatar: The Way of Water
• Babylon
• Elvis
• The Fabelmans

Best Animated Short Film

• WINNER: The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse
• The Flying Sailor
• Ice Merchants
• My Year of Dicks
• An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It

Best Live Action Short Film

• WINNER: An Irish Goodbye
• Ivalu
• Le Pupille
• Night Ride
• The Red Suitcase

Best Sound

• WINNER: Top Gun: Maverick
• All Quiet on the Western Front
• Avatar: The Way of Water
• The Batman
• Elvis

Best Visual Effects

• WINNER: Avatar: The Way of Water
• All Quiet on the Western Front
• The Batman
• Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
• Top Gun: Maverick

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Back in control, Bob Iger talks Marvel Studios and Star Wars

I’m not sure how much of the current plan for the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Star Wars shows and movies was put into place during the short time between Bob Iger’s two stints as CEO of the Walt Disney Company, but the once-and-current boss offered some thoughts on the state of those two franchises this past week.

“What we have to look at at Marvel is not necessarily the volume of Marvel storytelling, but how many times we go back to the well on certain characters,” Iger said while speaking at a Morgan Stanley conference (via The Hollywood Reporter). “Sequels typically work well for us, but do you need a third or a fourth, for instance? Or is it time to turn to other characters? There’s nothing in any way inherently off in terms of the Marvel brand. I think we just have to look at what characters and stories we are mining.”

This is an interesting thought from the guy who was running Disney when movies like Iron Man 3, Captain America: Civil War, Thor: Ragnarok and Thor: Love and Thunder were added to the MCU. (Not to mention Toy Story 3, Toy Story 4 and a bunch of Cars movies.) Is Iger now against these third and fourth films? Or did he just not like the past few?

“And if you look at the trajectory of Marvel over the next five years, you’ll see a lot of newness,” he said to the conference. “Now, we’re going to turn back to the Avengers franchise, but with a whole set of different Avengers, as an example.”

There was a rumor this past week that Iger was planning on pushing Avengers: Secret Wars back several years, which while unsubstantiated, would actually fall in line with how he’s slowing down the release of MCU shows on Disney+.

When it comes to Star Wars, Iger highlighted the box office success of the sequel trilogy and Rogue One, while noting that Solo “was a little disappointing to us” and “gave us pause to think maybe the cadence was a little too aggressive.”

“We decided to pull back a bit,” Iger said about Star Wars movies. “We still are developing Star Wars films. We’re going to make sure that when we make one, that it’s the right one, so we are being very careful there.”

Will we find out how and when Star Wars will return to the big screen in a month?

I Think You Should Leave returns on May 30

If Joe Biden won’t declare May 30 a national holiday for the premiere of I Think You Should Leave’s third season, we’re just going to have to stage a national walkout that day. This is the pop culture event of our generation.

Michael B. Jordan and the Creedverse are heading to Amazon

Michael B. Jordan’s Creed III is a big enough box office and critical hit that Amazon is now ready to hand the keys to the franchise over to the actor/director.

Deadline reported on Thursday that Amazon and MGM (which Amazon owns) have been meeting with Jordan about “various Creed-related projects” that include “an anime series connected to the Rocky spinoff IP is in the works, and there are ideas for a companion live-action TV series. Also percolating is a potential project centering on Adonis Creed’s daughter Amara, who was played by deaf actress Mila Davis-Kent in Creed III, making her film acting debut.” All of this is in addition to the Drago spinoff that’s been in various phases for awhile.

So this is great news if you’re Jordan. Or Rocky rights holder Irwin Winkler. It’s pretty crappy news, though, if you’re Sylvester Stallone. The Rocky star sat out Creed III due to creative differences over the project and has long hoped to reclaim rights to his character. Watching Amazon and MGM turn Jordan into the face and creative force of the franchise has to sting.

Is Jenna Ortega the catalyst to finally make a Beetlejuice sequel happen?

This is Jenna Ortega’s moment. Wednesday on Netflix. Hosting Saturday Night Live. Flying through Hot Ones. Will she soon add making a Beetlejuice sequel a reality to that list?

THR reported on Thursday that Ortega is “circling a role” in a sequel to the 1988 film, which would reunite her with Wednesday director Tim Burton.

Sources have told THR that Ortega would play the daughter of Winona Ryder’s character from the original Beetlejuice movie.

SNL’s post-production editors prepare to strike

It’s a miracle that every episode of SNL makes it to air. A huge part of that miracle is the post-production crew that turns around the pretaped segments — trailer spoofs, fake commercials, music videos. The show may have to do without those segments next month.

“Barring an agreement with producer NBCUniversal,” Variety reports, “the 12 to 20 editing crew members have announced that they intend to halt work and disrupt the show should bargaining sessions in their bid for pay inequities and health benefits continue to stall.”

A strike like this would force SNL to air either all live content during an episode, putting a virtually unprecedented workload on the cast of the show, or have to skip an episode. Abbott Elementary creator and star Quinta Brunson was announced as the host of the April 1 episode, so we’ll have to see how that goes.

‘A little confused’: Michael Shannon wasn’t sure how he was returning as Zod

With a snap of his head, the version of General Zod played by Michael Shannon infamously died in Man of Steel. It’s understandable then that Shannon wasn’t quite sure how he was returning as Zod for The Flash.

“I was a little confused,” Shannon told Looper. “I said, ‘As memory serves me, I think I died in Man of Steel. Are they sure they got the right guy?’ But then they explained to me the whole multiverse phenomenon, which ... I was a little behind the times on that.”

Ah yes, the “multiverse phenomenon.” Any version of any character from any movie can now be resurrected thanks to both the MCU and the current version of the DCU relying on that trick.

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Deep SNL Thoughts: Thanks to Jenna Ortega, we’ll never forget what a ‘cat ball’ is

Jenna Ortega may be the youngest person to host Saturday Night Live this season, but it didn’t show during her episode. The Wednesday star effortlessly jumped into a variety of sketches. Another episode where SNL got the entire cast involved, which is such a relief to see after y…

Popculturology

The Super Mario Bros. Movie

This movie is going to make so much money. It doesn’t matter that Chris Pratt is voicing Mario for some reason or that his take on the character still sounds like Linda Belcher from Bob’s Burgers. It’s going to open huge and keep pulling in money.

Super Mario Movie opens on April 5.

The Little Mermaid

Disney dropped a new trailer for its The Little Mermaid live-action remake during the Oscars, giving us a new look at Melissa McCarthy as Ursula and (I think?) our first look at Javier Bardem as King Triton.

The Little Mermaid opens on May 26.

No Hard Feelings

Jennifer Lawrence’s big comeback movie is directed by Gene Stupnitsky. Not only did Stupnitsky direct Good Boys a few years ago, but he also co-wrote “Dinner Party” and “Scott’s Tots,” two iconic episodes of The Office.

No Hard Feelings feels like it has the potential to be funny, but a lot of the beats in this trailer remind of The Girl Next.

No Hard Feelings opens on June 23.

Weekend of March 10-12, 2023

Scream VI (N)
Weekend gross: $44.5M / Total domestic gross: $44.5M / Percent drop: NA

Despite being a major horror franchise since 1996, the Scream movies have never opened big. Scream 2, Scream 3 and Scream (the confusingly named fifth one, not the first one) all opened in the $30 million range. Scream VI’s $44.5 million opening weekend broke new ground for the franchise.

Creed III (1)
Weekend gross: $27.2M / Total domestic gross: $101.4M / Percent drop: -53

Through just two weekends, Creed III already stands at No. 5 on all-time worldwide box office chart for the Rocky/Creed franchise. We’re going to see the film’s worldwide gross grow beyond the current $179.4 million, with it good chance that it winds up at at least No. 2 on this list, behind only Rocky IV’s $300.4 million.

1. 65 (N)
   Weekend gross: $12.3M / Total domestic gross: $12.3M / Percent drop: NA
2. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2)
   Weekend gross: $7M / Total domestic gross: $198M / Percent drop: -45
3. Cocaine Bear (3)
   Weekend gross: $6.2M / Total domestic gross: $51.7M / Percent drop: -44

Box office numbers via The Numbers

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

Historically, I’m not a fan of DreamWorks Animation films. They rely too heavily on current pop culture jokes and often seem more interested in cashing in on the celebrities they have voicing the characters than in anything else.

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is so much better than what the Shrek franchise has come to represent. The story is cute. The humor is actually sharp. And the animation takes chances and repeatedly offers something beyond what I expect from DreamWorks Animation.

The Last Wish is definitely a weird move. Everything about the Wolf is a daring choice to include in a movie being targeted at kids. (No, animation is not just for kids, but movies in this series generally are.) The Harvey Guillén-voiced Perrito is a stone-cold weirdo of character. The sweater. The belly. The morbid stories of attempted murder. And I absolutely teared up when Perrito helped Puss with his panic attack.

I’m not sure if DreamWorks Animation has future plans for this character. The hint of a return to the Shrekverse at the end seems like a disservice to how far he came with The Last Wish.

Hot Ones

“Pedro Pascal Cries From His Head While Eating Spicy Wings”

I honestly thought Pedro Pascal had done Hot Ones already. The man is everywhere these days, and this seems like something he would’ve already checked off.

Nothing especially revelatory came out of his chat with Sean Evans, but I did enjoy the story about shooting his final Game of Thrones scene.

Abbott Elementary

“Teacher Appreciation”

Gregory’s line about how he doesn’t “fuck with Settlers of Catan” brought me back. In the prepandemic days, we used to play that game all the time with family and friends. I think I’ve played once since the world opened back up.

Ayo Edebiri made her first non-FaceTime appearance as Janine’s sister in this one.

Corrections

“Tidying Up With Corrections”

Emmy voters, please resist the urge to give Carpool Karaoke an award over Corrections. You can do it. One last time before The Late Late Show calls it a night.

• It’s time to kill the multiverse (at least in this timeline) (Charles Holmes, The Ringer)
• Public scrutiny destroyed Jennifer Lawrence. Now she wants to win us back. (Ellen Durney, BuzzFeed News)

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Coca-Cola Move Zero Sugar

The Creations line from Coke has been pretty hit or miss. I actually didn’t mind the one that supposedly tasted like a campfire from last year, even buying it a third and fourth time when I found it in stores. Move, though, leans too heavily on the pineapple and coconut flavors. I don’t want to feel like I’m drinking sunscreen when I’m having a Coke Zero.

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