American cinema in the past year; From “Barbenheimer” to the strikes and the Gaza war
Fars News Agency – Cinema Group: Now with the end of 2023, which can be said to be a strange year for Hollywood, we will have a glimpse of the events that shook the body of this American entertainment industry; From the anti-Zionist positions of famous stars regarding the bloody war in Gaza to the widespread strikes of actors and screenwriters.
1- A phenomenon called “Barbenheimer”
Following the simultaneous release of two major films of 2023, Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” and Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer,” Barbenheimer’s fun campaign among viewers of the two genres on social media heralded an exciting summer. It was for Hollywood and cinematographers.
At the time of the release of “Barbie” starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, a wide advertising campaign was formed all over the world and many people who had not been to the cinema for years and even those who had absolutely no interest in cinema were convinced to see the movie; From the giant Barbie dolls on the streets to the pinking of many arcades and shopping centers around the world.
But the missing link of these ambitious advertisements was that few people spoke about the quality of “Barbie” and many were caught by it unintentionally, and this movie was able to win the title of the best-selling movie of the year with the sale of 1.44 billion dollars. self slow
Another newsworthy event about “Barbie”, a product of Warner Company, was the banning of its broadcasting in some Islamic countries, including the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Lebanon, Algeria, and also in Vietnam.
But the movie “Oppenheimer” starring Cillian Murphy, Florence Pugh and Emily Blunt managed to win the third place of the best sellers of 2023 with sales of 951 million dollars worldwide.
Nolan, who failed to capture the American box office with his previous film “Imagination”, produced in 2020, stated that “Oppenheimer” is literally the best film he has ever made.
In the awards season, “Oppenheimer” was also very successful so that the latest work of this popular American filmmaker took successful steps to win the Golden Globe.
In the film section of the Golden Globe ceremony, the movie “Barbie” leads with nine nominations, followed by “Oppenheimer” with eight nominations.
2- Union strikes
The Great Storm of 2023 in Hollywood began with the beginning of the writers’ strike of television shows and movies, and then with the actors joining their ranks, the largest strikes of the writers’ and actors’ unions since 1960.
These strikes, which were formed due to the failure of the negotiations of screenwriters and writers of television and movie programs with film studios to receive more wages and improve working conditions, attracted the attention of the media by announcing the solidarity of a large number of prominent Hollywood figures.
Among the prominent figures who became popular in these protests are Meryl Streep, the winner of the American National Medal of Arts, who has won several awards from world festivals, Brendan James Fraser, the winner of the Oscar for the best actor of 2022, Joaquin Phoenix, the star of the movie “Joker”. And Oscar, Golden Globe and BAFTA award-winning actor and director George Clooney pointed out.
As predicted, this action of Hollywood writers and actors was able to bring this big industry to its knees and stopped the preparation and production of many projects and postponed the broadcast of many works.
Although the Screen Actors Guild of America finally approved a tentative agreement to end the longest-running strike, which included at least a 7 percent wage increase and protections for actors against artificial intelligence, the union of Hollywood writers and actors cost the entertainment industry nearly $5 billion across the country. withdrawal fee
However, the losses of these widespread strikes, which had not happened jointly between actors and writers in the past sixty years, did not end in 2023, and according to published forecasts, it will be one of the factors in the eleven percent decrease in cinema sales in 2024.
3- Gaza war
In the past, Hollywood stars were not available to the audience except in the picture frame, but the changes in technology happened so fast and wide in the last decade that now moviegoers of any age, time and place can enter the real world of their favorite star with a few clicks.
In 2023, social media caused major problems for Hollywood, one of which was the continued protest of several actors and famous figures against the killing of the people of Gaza by the Zionist regime, which led to film companies confronting filmmakers who expressed their views.
Hollywood, without fear, systematically confronted its stars in this field, but did not succeed in silencing their voices. It can be said that the Gaza war revealed the differences of opinion among the people of American cinema who generally had the same positions on political matters.
In one of the most significant cases, Melissa Barrera, the star of the “Scream” franchise, announced on her personal page on the Instagram social network that she does not consider silence in the context of the Gaza massacre to be an option, and that she withdrew from the “Scream 7” movie after multiple positions by the Spyglass studio. It was placed.
But following Barrera’s dismissal, Jenna Ortega, the 21-year-old star of the popular series “Wednesday”, expressed her implicit support for his anti-Israel positions and announced her withdrawal from “Scream 7”.
Susan Sarandon, the best actress Oscar winner for “Dead Man’s Walking,” was also dropped by talent agency UTA after making comments at a pro-Palestinian rally.
In continuation of the anti-Israel positions of prominent Hollywood figures, Oliver Stone, the American screenwriter and director, who has received several awards from prestigious international festivals, called Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of the Zionist regime, a madman who is engaged in killing in Gaza and the president of the United States. He accused Joe Biden of supporting him.
The Islamic resistance movement of Palestine, Hamas, on the 7th of October 2023, in response to more than seven decades of occupation of Palestine and nearly two decades of siege of Gaza and imprisonment and torture of thousands of Palestinians, started the military operation “Al-Aqsa Storm” against the Israeli regime.
In response to this operation, the Zionist regime started a heavy bombardment against the Gaza Strip and placed this area under a complete siege. Israel’s attacks have so far led to the martyrdom of more than 22 thousand people, more than seventy percent of whom are women and children.
Hundreds of American artists have called on the White House to take serious steps toward a ceasefire in Gaza since the war began in early October. Meanwhile, Washington is the most serious supporter of Tel Aviv during the three-month war in Gaza and has not hesitated to provide any assistance to the Zionist regime.
4- Sexual assault in Hollywood
Another thing that affected Hollywood with the expansion of virtual space was the rise of the “Me Too” movement, which revealed the true face of a set of predators lurking in this industry; Because of this movement, many famous Hollywood stars were accused of sex in 2023 and before.
The “Me too” movement, which was an internet campaign with the hashtag of the same name, was launched in October 2017 to highlight the widespread prevalence of sexual assault and harassment, especially in the workplace.
This movement started with accusations of sexual harassment against the American producer Harvey Weinstein, and after a while the use of the hashtag “me too” became widespread.
In recent years, several cases have been filed against Hollywood stars, the arrowhead of one of which was aimed at the big star of the American cinema, Kevin Spacey, who won the Oscar for the best actor for the film “American Beauty” by Sam Mendes.
Anthony Rapp, who co-starred with Spacey at the Old Vic Theater in 1986, accused him of sexual assault in 2017, and following this accusation, Spacey from the TV series “House of Cards” and the movie “All the Money in the World” directed by Ridley Scott was dismissed.
Fifteen others then came forward with similar allegations of abuse; Among them are American actress Heather Unroe, who claimed that Spacey intended to sexually assault her son, Norwegian author Ari Ben, Harry Dreyfus, son of Richard Steven Dreyfus, and eight members of the cast of “House of Cards”.
But the biggest event for this case happened in 2023. While two of the plaintiffs, an American woman and an unidentified psychiatrist, had died and Ari Ben had committed suicide, Spacey was acquitted of nine charges he allegedly committed between 2004 and 2013.
During the Oscar-winning actor’s four-week trial, prosecutors described him as a “sexual bully.” Also, one of the plaintiffs said that he passed out after being sexually harassed by this actor in his apartment in London.
But in 2023, other big names were also accused of sex, which showed that Hollywood is not the only glamor to be seen. Jamie Foxx, the famous American actor and Oscar winner, was one of those accused by a woman of sexual harassment on the roof of a restaurant.
Bill Cosby, American comedian and famous television personality, who was sentenced to ten years in prison for sexual assault in 2018 and was released from prison in 2020 after the sentence was revoked, was another famous American figure who, in June 2023, reports in About the sexual abuse against him was published.
In these lawsuits, which were filed by nine women in the District Court of Nevada, all the plaintiffs claimed that during the relationship with Cosby in Nevada, which took place between 1979 and 1992, the American comedian took contaminated pills or drinks and while using He sexually assaulted them with drugs.
Vin Diesel, the famous actor of the “Fast and Furious” movie series, is another American star who was accused of sexual harassment in the last months of 2023 by Asta Jonasson, his former assistant.
According to Jonason, during the making of the movie “Fast and Furious 5” in 2010, Diesel forced himself on her during her presence in his room, and the woman’s pleas and escape could not stop the famous actor.
Part of the lawsuit filed for the case states that Jonasson was fired with a phone call to cover up his behavior for bravely resisting Vin Diesel’s sexual assault after the heinous act he committed.
The latest in the ongoing whirlwind of sex accusations that has engulfed Hollywood in this report concerns Jonathan Majors, star of Marvel’s recent Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantum of Solace.
Majors was arrested in March following a complaint by his ex-partner, Grace Jabari, who is Iranian-American, and was convicted of harassment, assault and battery by a Manhattan jury on Dec. 18 during a two-week trial that led to He was fired from the giant of the superhero world, Marvel.
5- Golden raspberry award
As for the Golden Raspberry Award of 2023, it was awarded to big names from Hollywood, and in turn, it was one of the most newsworthy events of last year.
In the 43rd edition of the Golden Raspberry Awards, which was held virtually, the biographical film “Elvis” directed by Baz Luhrmann, which deals with the life of the famous American singer and actor Elvis Presley, “Morbius”, a superhero film by Daniel Espinosa, and “Blonde”, which It is about the life of Marilyn Monroe and it was directed by Andrew Dominique.
The organizers of the ceremony chose Jared Leto as the worst actor for playing Morbius.
While Austin Butler, who played the lead role in Elvis, is on the Oscar contender list, his co-star, the great Tom Hanks, who played Colonel Parker in the film, received the award for worst supporting actor.
Hanks was also nominated for worst actor of the year for his role as Geppetto’s father in “Pinocchio”. He also won the Golden Raspberry Award for “Worst Movie Couple”; Hanks himself and his makeup in “Elvis”. Critics also slammed Hanks’ “ridiculous” accent in the film.
The movie “Blonde” also won the worst movie award in competition with “Pinocchio”, “Good Burial”, “The King’s Daughter” and “Morbius”. In the worst screenplay section, “Blonde” starring Ana de Armas stole the competition from others.
The jury of the ceremony awarded the title of the worst actress after the nomination of 12-year-old Ryan Kira Armstrong for the role in the movie “Incendiary”.
After strong criticism for nominating a teenager to receive this award, the jury reversed its decision and declared 18 as the minimum age for the Golden Raspberry nomination.
After the Covid-19 pandemic and the change in the way of life of the people of the world, Hollywood has not had a good year and it seems that the American cinema industry is struggling to save itself.
This situation is the result of a myriad of factors, including competition from streaming services including Netflix, Hulu, Disney Plus, Apple TV Plus, and many other entertainment and broadcasting giants that have achieved significant success with their movies and TV series.
The cinema of 2023 also showed that Hollywood did not do very well in knowing the audience’s taste, and films with big budgets such as: “Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves”, “Indiana Jones and the Wheel of Fate” and a number of other works that expect high sales from They could not attract the audience to the cinema halls.
Now we have to see what is the plan of this attractive and money-making industry to get out of the current situation and can it return to its peak or not?
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