Released on 1 December 2023, «Animal» has already become one of the highest-grossing Indian films ever, despite boasting an A-rating (India’s version of R-rated). During its debut weekend, «Animal» became the top-grossing film in the world, beating the likes of «Napoleon» and «The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes.» According to T-Series Films, the studio behind «Animal,» is a global phenomenon that boasts a global box office haul of about $100 million. The controversial Bollywood film is even making waves domestically, with stateside receipts of $12 million to date.
What makes these numbers particularly impressive is how deeply rooted the film has been in controversy from both Indian and Western critics and cinephiles. Film Companion’s Anupama Chopra, one of the most prolific voices in Indian film criticism, lambasted «Animal» in her overwhelmingly negative review. «A story which is cheerfully misogynistic, morally bankrupt and stomach-churningly violent,» Chopra said, adding, «All of which I could have endured if the drama and emotions had held.» Chopra’s review has proven to be both controversial and affirming. Take a look at the YouTube comments section, and you’ll find viewers arguing both passionately for and against the critic’s assessment.
Most critics have deemed «Animal» as overwhelmingly misogynistic and derogatory, criticizing the film for its poor treatment of women and gratuitous, self-indulgent violence. While the film does confront heavy themes, some think that the film glamorizes and advocates the actions of its lead protagonist. «The movie feels like 16 year old boy’s fever dream and hearing the audiences cheer and then looking up to see more gore and sex is deeply disappointing,» wrote Redditor u/Regclusive in the r/BollyBlindsNGossip subreddit.
Training for the movie «Ice Princess» caused Michelle Trachtenberg to injure herself on multiple occasions, but that’s not a big deal; any of us probably would have done the same or worse. That said, in the years since then, there’s been plenty of evidence indicating that she’s accident prone, even when she’s not out on the ice rink. Always one to be open with her fans, Trachtenberg usually stays ahead of the news by announcing her various injuries on social media.
Back in October 2011, Trachtenberg posted a tweet about having gone to the ER for a splint that left some fans alarmed. Just a little while later she admitted that she managed to cut her arm on a glass vase, and she spent a little bit of time doing photo shoots with her arm in a sling. Sometimes her injuries have been a bit more disruptive, but she’s always managed to get through them. She spent a sizable part of 2019 walking with her leg in a boot after breaking her ankle, but she celebrated her recovery at the end of the year on Instagram.
Then, not quite three years later, Trachtenberg broke her ankle yet again. She shared a gnarly looking photo of the injury on Instagram while joking about the fact that she still needed to get back to work. The very next day she made a post showing off her new crutch, but at the very least she’s got a healthy amount of experience using it.
In fact, Conan O’Brien began the interview by sharing just how much he loved the name «Vin Diesel.» «A lot of people you know create a name when they get to show business,» the «Late Night» host mused. «Vin Diesel is one of my favorites. It’s such a cool name; it’s a good name,» he went on. «There’s no way to say Vin Diesel in an uncool way.» The host and comedian also complimented Diesel’s brusque, growly manner of speech, which caused the action star to explain some funny background details about how his voice affected his teenage years.
«My voice started changing when I was about 16, [or] 15. Right, and my friends would, I would call my friend’s house, and their mother would pick up the phone and say, ‘Oh my God, who’s this,’ right?» he recalled. «I was [like] ‘is Dave there? Yeah,» and it was a sign of the times that my voice was changing into a man’s voice,» he concluded.
Well, between the name, the voice, and Diesel’s talent and charisma, the actor has since landed over 60 roles in film, television, animation, and video games. Furthermore, with future installments in both the «Riddick» and «The Fast and the Furious» franchises still being produced, it seems unlikely that the performer will be disappearing from the limelight any time soon.
James Gunn’s statement seems to have the DC fandom extremely worried. Many fans appear adamant that the film won’t be ready by 2025 and have brought up their points (and worries) on social media. «This is supposed to release in 2025,» @Quagifre101 noted. «Oops.» This view was echoed by @iamAkifKhan, who wrote, «We ain’t getting it in 2025 ig.» Another fan, @joelck22, wrote a similar post, expressing complete doubt that Reeves’ sequel will be able to make its projected date.
«The Batman 2» will undoubtedly require Robert Pattinson to hit the weights hard to play Bruce Wayne and his crime-fighting alter ego. However, @sallyvg thinks that the actor working out and learning combat choreography is a waste of his time now, as he might be waiting a while before he can don the cape again. «No script for The Batman 2??? WHAT???? Rob is training for WHAT???!!!»
On the flip side, some disappointed fans still found a positive in the situation. X’s @ChainsawReacts reminded everyone that the project is still moving forward, and that’s the main thing. «The Batman 2» might not arrive for a while, but a long wait is better than no movie at all, right?
In «The Force Awakens,» the galaxy’s heroes are up against a brand new battle station. The villainous successor to the Galactic Empire, the First Order, has brought Starkiller Base to the table. This weapon is Death Star-like, but far more massive and powerful. It’s housed within the planet Ilum and uses the power of nearby stars to charge its planetary system-destroying superlasers. The Resistance manages to obliterate Starkiller Base by the film’s end, and it’s not reconstructed in either of the two sequels.
Rather than bringing back Starkiller Base, the sequel trilogy brings moviegoers back to the Death Star II — at least what’s left of it. Rey Skywalker (Daisy Ridley) and her allies are tasked with seeking out a Sith wayfinder in «Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker,» which was located in Emperor Palpatine’s (Ian McDiarmid) observatory on the battle station. Thus, they venture to the Death Star II’s wreckage on Kef Bir, she finds it, and engages in a perilous duel with her sworn rival, Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), on the debris.
Thankfully, for those hoping to see the Death Star II, «The Rise of Skywalker» delivers on what the minds at Lucasfilm elected to omit from the «Force Awakens» script.
Despite the success of this summer’s Baldur’s Gate 3, Wizards of the Coast’s parent company Hasbro faced a significant revenue shortfall. (Larian Studios Image)
Employees at Renton, Wash.-based gaming giant Wizards of the Coast were affected by a new round of layoffs at its parent company, Hasbro.
Hasbro announced “additional headcount reductions” in an internal memo by CEO Chris Cocks on Monday, which are projected to impact 1,100 workers across its global operations.
Affected employees at Wizards posted on LinkedIn that they had been laid off. Other reports indicated that IT-related workers were cut. Update: Multiple departments have since been confirmed to be affected by the layoffs, including an art director and a game designer for Dungeons & Dragons.
We reached out to Wizards for more details about the layoffs. A representative pointed us to Cocks’ internal memo and declined to comment on workforce impact at Wizards.
The latest round of cuts comes after Hasbro said in January that it would eliminate 900 positions over the course of the following 18 to 24 months. The new layoffs appear to be additional cuts; Hasbro’s total cuts are close to 2,000.
The layoffs are part of an overall restructuring at the company under Cocks, who moved to Hasbro from Wizards in February 2022. As per its October earnings report, Hasbro’s overall revenue has been on a decline, despite Wizards of the Coast’s continued growth.
That report cites the sales success of Baldur’s Gate III and Monopoly Go as major successes for Wizards, which drove “$63 million of incremental revenue” between them in Q3. Conversely, soft toy sales, several expired licenses, and this summer’s Writers’ and Screen Actors’ Guild strikes contributed to significant shortfalls in Hasbro’s Consumer Products and Entertainment segments.
This week’s layoffs can be seen as the latest chapter in an ongoing story. For all its recent controversies, Wizards of the Coast has had a very successful year, but it appears to be the only department at Hasbro that’s doing well. While Hasbro isn’t exiting the toy space entirely, it’s refocusing its efforts on, to quote Cocks, “fewer, bigger, better brands.”
As part of that, Hasbro plans to sell its interest in Canadian entertainment company Entertainment One, which produced its recent licensed films such as Snake Eyes and Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. In 2024, its earnings report says the plan is “refocusing our company on what has traditionally made us great, the business of play.”
Wizards’ upcoming releases for 2024 include the celebration of Dungeons & Dragons’ 50th anniversary. This includes the long-anticipated rules update, which will see new editions of D&D’s core 3 rulebooks.
At this year’s PAX Unplugged, Wizards announced a number of other new publications, which included a new non-fiction book about the development process on the original 1974 edition of D&D; a sequel to Gary Gygax’s 1982 adventure The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth; and Vecna: Eve of Ruin, an entire campaign based around Vecna, a wizard turned god and one of D&D’s classic villains.
Hasbro also plans to reduce its real estate holdings, and will exit its Providence, R.I. office space at the end of its lease in January 2025. It will continue to do business out of its offices in Pawtucket, R.I.
Read Cocks’ full memo below.
Team,
A year ago, we laid out our strategy to focus on building fewer, bigger, better brands and began the process of transforming Hasbro. Since then, we’ve had some important wins, like retooling our supply chain, improving our inventory position, lowering costs, and reinvesting over $200M back into the business while growing share across many of our categories. But the market headwinds we anticipated have proven to be stronger and more persistent than planned. While we’re confident in the future of Hasbro, the current environment demands that we do more, even if these choices are some of the hardest we have to make.
Today we’re announcing additional headcount reductions as part of our previously communicated strategic transformation, affecting approximately 1,100 colleagues globally in addition to the roughly 800 reductions already taken.
Our leadership team came to this difficult decision after much deliberation. We recognize this is heavy news that affects the livelihoods of our friends and colleagues. Our focus is communicating with each of you transparently and supporting you through this period of change. I want to start by addressing why we are doing this now, and what’s next.
Why now?
We entered 2023 expecting a year of change including significant updates to our leadership team, structure, and scope of operations. We anticipated the first three quarters to be challenging, particularly in Toys, where the market is coming off historic, pandemic-driven highs. While we have made some important progress across our organization, the headwinds we saw through the first nine months of the year have continued into Holiday and are likely to persist into 2024.
To position Hasbro for growth, we must first make sure our foundation is solid and profitable. To do that, we need to modernize our organization and get even leaner. While we see workforce reductions as a last resort, given the state of our business, it’s a lever we must pull to keep Hasbro healthy.
What happens next?
While we’re making changes across the entire organization, some functional areas will be affected more than others. Many of those whose roles are affected have been or will be informed in the next 24 hours, although the timings will vary by country, in line with local rules and subject to employee consultations where required. This includes team members who have raised their hands to step down from their roles at the end of the year as part of our Voluntary Early Retirement Program (VRP) in the U.S. We’re immensely grateful to these colleagues for their many years of dedication, and we wish them all the best.
The majority of the notifications will happen over the next six months, with the balance occurring over the next year as we tackle the remaining work on our organizational model. This includes standardizing processes within Finance, HR, IT and Consumer Care as part of our Global Business Enablement project, but it also means doing more work across the entire business to minimize management layers and create a nimbler organization.
What else are we doing?
I know this news is especially difficult during the holiday season. We value each of our team members – they aren’t just employees, they’re friends and colleagues. We decided to communicate now so people have time to plan and process the changes. For those employees affected we are offering comprehensive packages including job placement support to assist in their transition.
We’ve also done what we can to minimize the scale of impact, like launching the VRP and exploring options to reduce our global real estate footprint. On that note, our Providence, Rhode Island office is currently not being used to its full capacity and we’ve decided to exit the space at the end of the lease term in January 2025. Over the next year, we’ll welcome teams from our Providence office to our headquarters down the road in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. It’s an opportunity to reshape how we work and ensure our workspace is vibrant and productive, while reflecting our more flexible in-person cadence since the pandemic.
Looking ahead
As Gina often says, cost-cutting is not a strategy. We know this, and that’s why we’ll continue to grow and invest in several areas in 2024.
As we uncover more cost savings, we’ll invest in new systems, insights and analytics, product development and digital – all while strengthening our leading franchises and ensuring our brands have the essential marketing they need to thrive well into the future.
We’ll also tap into unlocked potential across our business, like our new supply chain efficiency, our direct-to-consumer capabilities, and key partnerships to maximize licensing opportunities, scale entertainment, and free up our own content dollars to drive new brand development.
I know there is no sugar-coating how hard this is, particularly for the employees directly affected. We’re grateful to them for their contributions, and we wish them all the best. In the coming weeks, let’s support each other, and lean in to drive through these necessary changes, so we can return our business to growth and carry out Hasbro’s mission.
This might seem a bit far-fetched at first, but truthfully, this theory has some intriguing evidence behind it. On a different Reddit thread, u/jordanlund presents a full case complete with screenshots, and it’s honestly quite convincing.
Here’s the gist: while Beatrix does, in fact, set out to kill Bill, the bloody trail that leads her towards her former beau ends up making her feel guilty. After killing O-Ren Ishii (Lucy Liu) in the first volume — if you twist the on-screen events into chronological order — she then travels from Japan to California to take out another former Deadly Vipers assassin Vernita Green (Vivica A. Fox). When Vernita’s daughter Nikki (Ambrosia Kelley) discovers the bloody aftermath, Beatrix is uncharacteristically bashful, even apologizing to the young girl and offering her a rematch one day.
So, as the theory goes, Beatrix doesn’t directly murder anyone from that point on. Michael Madsen’s Budd gets bitten by a poisonous snake at the hands of Daryl Hannah’s Elle Driver, and Beatrix elects to remove Elle’s one remaining eye instead of killing her. (It’s reasonable to assume that she either succumbs to that injury or is bitten by the still-present snake, though.) Not killing Bill at the end would certainly fit within this theory, and there’s more!
Where does one go after escaping from New York and Los Angeles? Space, of course. Following «Escape from L.A.,» John Carpenter reportedly considered taking the franchise to space with a project called «Escape from Mars,» but that never materialized. However, the idea supposedly informed the director’s 2001 space-western, «Ghosts of Mars,» which sees Ice Cube, Jason Statham, Pam Grier, and Natasha Henstridge forced to contend with demonic Martians. Carpenter hasn’t confirmed if «Ghosts of Mars» was originally imagined as a Snake Plissken adventure, but it’s an interesting idea nonetheless. But will he ever take Snake to the red planet?
Carpenter hasn’t commented on returning to this world, but that doesn’t mean he’s fully retired. Earlier this year, he told Variety that he’s open to directing again, but there are conditions attached. «I’m open to it, given that it’s honestly budgeted and there’s plenty of time to do it — and that people allow for the basketball season and the playoffs,» the director said. Whether or not he’s keen to give Plissken one last hurrah remains to be seen.
Of course, Hollywood probably won’t finance a new Snake Plissken movie with Kurt Russell and Carpenter attached any time soon. As of this writing, the plan is to give the franchise a fresh coat of paint, with a new filmmaking team at the helm.
The «RoboCop» Oreo story seems too specific to be made up entirely. There’s also a chance Peter Weller has simply forgotten about it after all these years. We may never know the full truth, but the viral anecdote blew up on X, formerly known as Twitter, and people are getting into arguments over what they think the reality is.
A poster on X uploaded the clip to the platform, which resulted in a number of comments from people with varying opinions. User @GeonnCannon immediately poked a hole in Randy E. Moore’s tale: «I want to believe the story with all my heart, but who carries eight Oreos around while they’re working? And then stuffing eight Oreos into his mouth at once?! I’m with Peter Weller on this, there were no eight Oreos. TWO maybe. Eight? Get out of here.» Exaggeration may be a likely culprit, but still, it wouldn’t explain Weller not remembering the Oreos at all. Others seem to think the story is more accurate than the actor lets on, like @PhoenixFlash4, who wrote, «I worked with an actor years ago who’d done a picture with Peter Weller. The stories he told me about working with Weller had a similar vibe.»
Still, the story has served its purpose blowing up online, as @Hank_HeyNow admitted, «Lol you would not believe how fast I searched [and] bought this [series] after watching this clip. Less than 30 seconds, I s*** you not.» True or not, this story is now one of the best things about «RoboCop.»
James Gunn has already stated how the DC film multiverse will have room for Elseworld stories, meaning movies that don’t connect to the mainline continuity that will begin with «Superman: Legacy.» Another sequel that falls in this category is «Joker: Folie à Deux,» the follow-up to 2019’s «Joker.»
While having two separate Batman film franchises might seem like things could get confusing, it actually presents an intriguing opportunity. «The Batman» established a dark, gritty tone similar to Christopher Nolan’s «Dark Knight» trilogy. A more grounded atmosphere possibly prevents Matt Reeves to use actual superpowered villains like Man-Bat and Poison Ivy. There are currently no plot details for «The Brave and the Bold,» but it could be an opportunity to take the character and Gotham in a more fantastical direction.
«The Brave and the Bold» will differentiate itself from «The Batman» in one important way — teaming up the Dark Knight with his biological son, Damian Wayne, who’s the Robin the new DCU needs. This opens the doors for other members of the Bat family to join the fun, and it could take a decidedly different direction in terms of tone. Since «Brave and the Bold» exists in the same world as «Superman: Legacy,» it could explore more fantasy and science-fiction concepts while «The Batman Part II» keeps things gritty and grounded. It’s just a thought, but we’re certainly not going to complain about getting more Batman movies.
Despite the palpable chemistry between its two leads, viewers shouldn’t go into «Anyone But You» expecting its instances of nudity to be just seductive or romantic. As a matter of fact, one of the film’s nude scenes is meant to be purely comedic. Filming the scene in question, which sees Glen Powell’s Ben desperately disrobe while standing next to a cliff out of fear that there’s a spider in his pants, turned out to be a surprisingly dangerous experience for its central star, too.
Powell revealed as much in an interview with Variety, telling the outlet, «I almost died falling off a cliff taking my pants off too fast.» Speaking with PEOPLE about Sydney Sweeney’s presence on set during the filming of the scene, Powell added, «The key to a great partner in that journey is someone who’s not afraid to look dumb, and who’s in it with you, and not protective.» The actor ultimately surmised, «I think that’s the one thing that we had, is that we both just had the best time looking stupid on this movie together.»
Taking Powell’s remarks into account, it seems safe to say that the adult elements of «Anyone But You,» including its nudity, sexual content, and language, were included in the film to help it achieve a heightened sense of both humor and romance. Viewers will, of course, get to make up their minds about the quality of the film’s tone when it’s released in theaters. For now, though, the one thing that is clear about «Anyone But You» is that it definitely isn’t intended for younger audience members.
Rendering of Seagen’s new planned manufacturing facility north of Seattle. (Seagen Image)
Pfizer’s plan to acquire Seagen for $43 billion has cleared the necessary regulatory hurdles, the pharma titan announced Tuesday. The deal will close on Thursday.
Seagen is the largest biotech company in the Seattle area and an anchor for the biopharma industry in the Pacific Northwest. The 3,300-person company announced plans last year to build a 270,000 square foot manufacturing facility north of Seattle.
Seagen launched as Seattle Genetics in 1998. It went public in 2001, pricing its IPO at $7 per share. The terms of the acquisition put Seagen’s value at approximately $229 per share.
The company had been in merger-and-acquisition negotiations with multiple potential buyers before the agreement with Pfizer came together.
To win Federal Trade Commission approval for the deal, Pfizer is giving up its royalties from the U.S. sales of a cancer-treatment drug called Bavencio. Those royalties will go to the American Association for Cancer Research in support of its mission.
Pfizer said Tuesday it will restructure its operations to incorporate Seagen. The company is creating an end-to-end business organization called the Pfizer Oncology Division that will include certain commercial oncology work and R&D operations from both companies. The division will be led by Pfizer’s Dr. Chris Boshoff.
When Pfizer announced the planned acquisition in March, company CEO Dr. Albert Bourla said it would maintain Seagen’s Seattle area and San Francisco locations, and “will try if possible to enhance their resources rather than taking them away.”
“We are not buying the golden eggs. We are acquiring a goose that is laying the golden eggs,” Bourla said on a call with investors.
Seagen has several offices globally and employs about 1,800 in the Seattle area. It is based in the city of Bothell, located north of Seattle.
Seagen was founded by Clay Siegall and H. Perry Fell, who served as CEO until Siegall took over in 2002. Siegall resigned from the company in May 2022 following domestic violence allegations and an arrest at his house after an incident involving his wife. He ultimately did not face charges.
Christopher Nolan’s thoughts on Zack Snyder’s «Watchmen» aren’t just a retrospective take on the situation. Even in the years between the debut of «Watchmen» and the release of Snyder’s «Man of Steel,» the director felt strongly that the masses weren’t ready for the twisted superhero tale just yet.
In a 2016 interview with the Los Angeles Times, Snyder revealed that Nolan advised him on how to approach his take on Superman after «Watchmen.» «When I had my initial meeting with Chris Nolan about doing ‘Man of Steel,’ he said to me, ‘Watchmen is a movie you made too early,’» the director recalled. «Because that movie was written deep into comic-book culture, as a way of exploring the way of heroes within pop culture.»
While Nolan’s advice may have influenced Snyder’s approach to his subsequent DC films, the «Watchmen» director noted that audiences are far more receptive to experimental takes on the genre now compared to 2009. Shows like «The Boys,» «Invincible,» and 2019’s «Watchmen» all focus on the dark underside of the superhero world and have been extremely well-received.
Snyder particularly singled out 2016’s R-rated «Deadpool» as the superhero movie that broke the mold with the masses. «‘Deadpool’ shows that audiences have now gotten to the point where they can understand the satire of the genre,» he said. «Before that, audiences were like, ‘I’m not ready for that. I’m not there yet.’»
While «About Time» advertises itself as a light-hearted romance-centric narrative, those who have seen the movie know how deep it goes. Dealing with universal themes of achieving happiness and the fragility of life, it’s easy to see how «About Time» can catch viewers off guard and get them thinking. However, what transformed the film into an emotional rollercoaster for many was its handling of familial topics, particularly in the tenderly-crafted father-son relationship between Tim Lake and his dad, James (Bill Nighy).
Redditor u/Roflcopter71 shared that a line spoken towards the end, where the two travel back in time to spend time on the beach during Tim’s childhood, was particularly hard-hitting. «His dad says something along the lines of ‘just let me watch this one more time,’ and it gets me every time,» they commented. «I would look up the scene to get the exact quote but I don’t feel like bawling my eyes out while I’m at work.»
Others, such as u/TheHickeyStand, opened up about how the movie’s events conjured up hard memories: «My dad was built a bit like Bill Nighy and had beaten cancer twice when this film came out … Couldn’t drive after seeing the film. A couple of years later, the cancer finally beat dad … It kills me watching it again, but I can feel dad through Bill.» Redditor u/orange_cuse explained why they can’t rewatch the film, stating, «Watched this movie around the time my grandmother was passing away. This movie made me rain buckets out of my eyeballs. Still can’t rewatch to this day from fear of uncontrollably leaking.»
Josh Nizzi’s concept for Spider-Man’s inside-out suit is sure to tickle the funny bone of fans as a playful throwback to the character’s MCU introduction. But while the piece provides a light-hearted window into what could have been for «Spider-Man: No Way Home,» another black-suited Spider-Man planned for the film had far darker implications that fans were sure to pick up on.
The book «Spider-Man: No Way Home: The Art of the Movie» reveals that, at one point during the development phase, the film would have seen its titular hero don his iconic black symbiote suit. Three iterations of the suit are showcased in the book, one with a red spider symbol, another with a white symbol, and another with a golden one. No matter the color, the suggestion remains the same — that Spider-Man would have had an encounter with the Venom symbiote.
It’s easy to see why this concept was considered. With the inclusion of Tom Hardy’s Venom in a mid-credits scene as well as Marvel and Sony’s further push to connect their respective Spider-Man universes in recent years, it felt like only a matter of time before these worlds collide. With everything going on in «Spider-Man: No Way Home,» it probably wouldn’t have been the best place to include this plotline, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see the concept make a return in Marvel’s fourth Spider-Man venture.
Following the post on Reddit, u/KazNamOrfa said, «That’s.. Actually pretty close lol,» which led to over 1,600 viewers agreeing. u/Xx_Venom_Fox_xX wrote, «A decent «Luke-a-Like» then?» And who could disagree? This interesting iteration also sparked comparisons to other characters in the franchise, with u/MSAndrew07 saying, «It kinda looks like a combo of young Mark Hamill and Han from Solo: A Star Wars Story [Alden Ehrenreich].»
One interesting comparison that cropped up was that this digital version of the franchise’s beloved hero was the similarity he shared with another based in «Riverdale.» u/beanbounce69 wrote, «That’s literally Cole Sprouse,» which others agreed with. Squint and there were indeed some similarities, but then, who are we kidding? Whoever this fragmented Luke Skywalker might resemble, they can’t hold a candle to the original hero that Mark Hamill brought to life so brilliantly.
«Barbie» famously spotlights not only Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling’s respective versions of Barbie and Ken, but also variants of the two dolls played by other members of the film’s cast. Michael Cera and «Saltburn» director Emerald Fennell even play live-action versions of slightly obscure, Mattel-made Barbie and Ken companion dolls in the blockbuster comedy. It would have, therefore, been in keeping with the film’s comedic tone and zany world if Saoirse Ronan and Timothée Chalamet had played rejected iterations of Barbie and Ken.
Unfortunately, their intended «Barbie» cameos never came to fruition, and Chalamet isn’t the only one who has discussed the two missed opportunities. In an interview earlier this year with CinemaBlend, Greta Gerwig also shared her disappointment over the fact that she didn’t get to work for the third time in a row with either Chalamet or Ronan. «Both of them couldn’t do it, and I was so annoyed,» she admitted. «I love them so much. But it felt like doing something without my children. I mean, I’m not their mom, but I sort of feel like their mom.»
The good news is that the success of «Barbie» has paved the way for Gerwig to do whatever she wants next, which means that she shouldn’t have any trouble reuniting with Chalamet and Ronan on a future project. In fact, while Gerwig has previously stated that she isn’t ready to start thinking about a «Barbie» sequel, a follow-up to the film would give the director another chance to make Chalamet and Ronan’s intended cameos happen. She could, alternatively, work with them again on a new, non-«Barbie» movie.
Fans will just have to wait to see which route she decides to take.
Bellevue, Wash.-based workflow automation company Nintex has acquired Skuid, a Chattanooga, Tenn.,-based low-code application development platform.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Nintex has made a string of acquisitions over the past few years, including Kryon in February 2022; AssureSign in June 2021; K2 Software in October 2020; and EnableSoft in March 2019.
Skuid helps more than 600 companies design, build and deploy business applications that bring together data and workflows across organizations.
Private equity giant TPG Capital bought a majority stake in Nintex in 2021. Amit Mathradas, a longtime tech leader and former Avalara president, joined Nintex as CEO in March.
When Amanda Bynes was cast as Daphne Reynolds in «What a Girl Wants,» she was arguably one of the most promising child comedians in the country. For three seasons, she led the sketch-comedy series «The Amanda Show» on Nickelodeon, playing a crucial role in defining the network’s turn-of-the-century identity as it skyrocketed in popularity. Her role in «What a Girl Wants» came shortly after she starred alongside Paul Giamatti and Frankie Muniz in «Big Fat Liar,» and during her time leading the WB sitcom «What I Like About You.»
Though «What a Girl Wants» has enjoyed enduring cultural status, it wasn’t necessarily her biggest project during the 2000s. In 2005, she voiced a character in the animated film «Robots,» and a year after that starred opposite Channing Tatum in «She’s the Man» — and then the year after that, she headlined «Hairspray,» alongside Zac Efron. In 2010, however, she suddenly decided to take a hiatus from acting. «Being an actress isn’t as fun as it may seem,» she tweeted at the time. «If I don’t love something anymore, I stop doing it. I don’t love acting anymore, so I’ve stopped doing it.» During her semi-retirement from acting, Bynes went through serious personal struggles that ultimately resulted in her parents being legally appointed her conservators. This ended in 2022.
As of this writing, Bynes continues to treat her mental health on her own terms, and has started a podcast with her close friend Paul Sieminski. She has previously teased a potential return to acting, though has made no concrete plans to do so as of yet.
