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‘Oppenheimer’ Wins Big at Critics Choice Awards 

Christopher Nolan accepts the award for best director for "Oppenheimer" during the 29th Critics Choice Awards on Sunday, Jan. 14, 2024, at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, Calif. (AP)
Christopher Nolan accepts the award for best director for "Oppenheimer" during the 29th Critics Choice Awards on Sunday, Jan. 14, 2024, at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, Calif. (AP)
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‘Oppenheimer’ Wins Big at Critics Choice Awards 

Christopher Nolan accepts the award for best director for "Oppenheimer" during the 29th Critics Choice Awards on Sunday, Jan. 14, 2024, at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, Calif. (AP)
Christopher Nolan accepts the award for best director for "Oppenheimer" during the 29th Critics Choice Awards on Sunday, Jan. 14, 2024, at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, Calif. (AP)

"Oppenheimer," Christopher Nolan's epic movie about the creation of the atomic bomb, cleaned up at the Critics Choice Awards on Sunday, winning best picture and seven other prizes over its rivals as the Oscars race heats up.

The $1 billion-grossing movie, now the clear frontrunner for the Academy Awards in March, also won for best director, supporting actor, cinematography, score, ensemble, editing, and visual effects.

Collecting his prize for directing, Nolan thanked the critics who "helped with convincing mainstream audiences that a film about quantum physics and apocalypse could be worth their time."

Robert Downey Jr. thanked his fellow "Oppenhomies'" as he followed up his Golden Globe win with another best supporting actor prize.

Despite the dominance of "Oppenheimer," the remaining acting categories rewarded other films at the gala -- one of a raft of major awards shows in the run-up to the Academy Awards, which take place this year on March 10.

Emma Stone won best actress for "Poor Things," a surreal dark comedy in which she plays a Victorian reanimated corpse with the brain of an infant, who gradually learns about the world but refuses to pander to its social mores and hierarchies.

"Playing Bella was one of the greatest joys of my life. I got to unlearn a lot of things in playing her -- unlearn parts of shame, and societal stuff that gets put on us," she said.

"I'm very grateful to the critics... but I'm just learning not to care what you think," Stone joked.

The award is her latest after she won at last weekend’s Globes -- as did Paul Giamatti, who famously celebrated his victory by taking a late-night trip with his trophy to California's popular fast-food chain In-N-Out Burger.

"I didn't think my week could get any better than going viral for eating a cheeseburger," joked Giamatti as he won the best actor trophy for 1970s-set prep school comedy "The Holdovers."

"It's a good story about people connecting in divisive times. So, thank you for helping get it out to audiences."

The win puts the veteran actor, known for hits like "Sideways," head-to-head with Cillian Murphy, who portrays J. Robert Oppenheimer in Nolan's biopic, for the Oscars race.

Fellow "Holdovers" star Da'Vine Joy Randolph consolidated her position as this year's best supporting actress with her latest win for her portrayal of the school's grieving cook.

The Critics Choice Awards -- chosen by almost 600 members of North America's largest critics organization -- laid out a red carpet and lavish gala at a former airport hangar in Los Angeles for Hollywood A-listers.

Although "Barbie" -- the other half of last summer's "Barbenheimer" box office phenomenon -- has so far failed to capture top prizes this awards season, it was showered with honors in a range of other categories.

The film won for best comedy, original screenplay, song, production design, costume, and hair and makeup.

French courtroom drama "Anatomy of a Fall" won for best foreign-language film, and "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" was named best animated movie.

"American Fiction" won best adapted screenplay, while Harrison Ford accepted a career achievement award at the gala, hosted by comedian Chelsea Handler.

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Entertainment

What Netflix’s Acquisition of Warner Bros. Means for the Movies

FILE PHOTO: A Netflix logo is pictured in Los Angeles, California, US, September 15, 2022. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A Netflix logo is pictured in Los Angeles, California, US, September 15, 2022. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni/File Photo
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What Netflix’s Acquisition of Warner Bros. Means for the Movies

FILE PHOTO: A Netflix logo is pictured in Los Angeles, California, US, September 15, 2022. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A Netflix logo is pictured in Los Angeles, California, US, September 15, 2022. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni/File Photo

Netflix’s deal to acquire Warner Bros., one of Hollywood’s oldest movie studios, poses seismic shifts to the entertainment industry and the future of moviegoing. 

As one of the remaining “big five” studios, the 102-year-old Warner Bros. is an essential part of movie theater business. 

The studio currently boasts three of the top five earning films domestically, including “A Minecraft Movie,” in first place, “Superman” and “Sinners,” as well as the Oscar frontrunner, “One Battle After Another.” 

There are more questions than answers about how ownership from a streaming giant would change things for Warner Bros. It’s not even clear if it will pass antitrust scrutiny, or, if it does, what the details will look like. 

Here are some things to know, and lingering questions, in the wake of the news. 

Will Warner Bros. continue releasing movies in theaters? Yes, but it might change as well. For starters, it’ll be at least 12 to 18 months before the deal officially goes through and moviegoers can expect essentially business as usual until then. Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said Friday that they will “continue to support” a “life cycle that starts in the movie theater” for Warner Bros. movies. But he also commented that he doesn’t think that “long exclusive windows” are consumer friendly. 

With the rise of streaming, and especially in the pandemic era, studios experimented with different theatrical windows. For many years, a 90-day theatrical window was standard, but now it’s closer to 45 days and often a film-by-film decision. 

Netflix and movie theaters Netflix does release some films theatrically, but not usually more than a few weeks before they hit streaming. Sometimes that’s to qualify for awards eligibility, sometimes it’s a gesture to top filmmakers. This year those releases included Guillermo del Toro’s “Frankenstein,” Kathryn Bigelow’s “A House of Dynamite” and Noah Baumbach’s “Jay Kelly.” 

Major chains like AMC and Regal had refused to program Netflix releases until 2022, when enthusiasm for the “Knives Out” movie “Glass Onion” helped break the stalemate. 

Earlier this year, “KPop Demon Hunters” unofficially topped the box office charts, earning nearly $20 million from a one-weekend run in theaters two full months after it debuted on the streamer. 

Netflix also owns and operates several movie theaters, including the Paris Theater in New York and the Egyptian Theatre in Los Angeles. 

Upcoming Warner Bros. movies The studio has a diverse slate of films expected in 2026, with high profile titles including the Margot Robbie-led “Wuthering Heights” in February, “Supergirl” in June, “Practical Magic 2” in September, Alejandro Iñárritu’s untitled Tom Cruise movie in October and Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune: Part Three” in December. 

Movies planned for 2027 include sequels to “Superman,” “A Minecraft Movie” and “The Batman.” 

Earlier this year the company said its target was 12 to 14 releases annually across its four main labels, Warner Bros. Pictures, DC Studios, New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. animation. 

What does it mean for movie theaters? So much of this depends on the details, but Cinema United president and CEO Michael O’Leary said hours before the news broke that it posed “an unprecedented threat to the global exhibition business.” 

He added: “Regulators must look closely at the specifics of this proposed transaction and understand the negative impact it will have on consumers, exhibition and the entertainment industry.” 

Theatrical exhibition has not fully recovered since the pandemic. Before 2020, the annual domestic box office regularly surpassed $11 billion. Since then it has only surpassed $9 billion once, in 2023, driven largely by “Barbie,” a Warner Bros. release. 

How will top filmmakers react? It’s too early to tell, but Warner Bros. has always prided itself on being one of the premier homes for top filmmakers, this year releasing films from Paul Thomas Anderson, Ryan Coogler and James Gunn. Other longstanding relationships include Villeneuve, who has “Dune: Part Three” coming next year, Clint Eastwood and Todd Phillips. Much likely depends on whether robust theatrical releases will be honored — many of these filmmakers are vocal champions of the theatrical experience and may not stick around if it shifts. 

The studio’s controversial decision to release films simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max in 2021 during the pandemic led to a rift with Christopher Nolan, who after making eight major films with the company, including the “Dark Knight” trilogy, partnered with Universal to make his next two films, “Oppenheimer” and next year’s “The Odyssey.” 

Will HBO Max and Netflix become one service? That’s also unclear. If the two platforms remain separate subscriptions, there may be “bundling” options, as with Disney and Hulu. Netflix on Friday said that the addition of HBO and HBO Max programming will give its members “even more high-quality titles from which to choose” and “optimize its plans for consumers.” 

The Warner Bros. library of films includes classics like “Casablanca” and “Citizen Kane” as well as the “Harry Potter” movies. 

Entertainment

‘Fallout’ Expands ‘Everything’ for Show’s Second Season 

Walton Goggins, left, and Justin Theroux pose for photographers upon arrival at the season two screening of the television series "Fallout" on Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025, in London. (AP)
Walton Goggins, left, and Justin Theroux pose for photographers upon arrival at the season two screening of the television series "Fallout" on Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025, in London. (AP)
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‘Fallout’ Expands ‘Everything’ for Show’s Second Season 

Walton Goggins, left, and Justin Theroux pose for photographers upon arrival at the season two screening of the television series "Fallout" on Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025, in London. (AP)
Walton Goggins, left, and Justin Theroux pose for photographers upon arrival at the season two screening of the television series "Fallout" on Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025, in London. (AP)

Hit television series "Fallout" ups the stakes as it returns to screens for a sophomore season, its stars and makers say.

"You can play it two ways," actor Walton Goggins said as he premiered the new season in London on Tuesday. "You can play it safe, rely on what happened in season one, or you can go for broke. And we went for broke."

Based on the popular video game franchise of the same name, the live-action series centers on three main characters; former vault dweller Lucy (Ella Purnell), Maximus, a member of the Brotherhood of Steel (Aaron Moten) and Cooper Howard/The Ghoul (Goggins), a former movie star and mutated bounty hunter.

The new season picks up where the season one left off, with Lucy looking for her father Hank (Kyle MacLachlan), and pairing up with The Ghoul on a post-apocalyptic adventure through the Mojave Desert to New Vegas.

The show's executive producer, Jonathan Nolan, said audiences could expect "more of everything." "More madness, more humor, more violence. We just try to outdo ourselves," he said.

The second season also shows a new side to Lucy as her optimistic attitude clashes with The Ghoul's nihilistic worldview on their way to Sin City, said Purnell.

"She's in the wasteland now and she has to survive. You can't always do that by being nice," Purnell said. "I don't want to spoil it, but we'll see what happens to that moral compass."

The new season introduces Justin Theroux in the role of Robert House, the ruler of the New Vegas strip, and a major character in the franchise.

"It's a bit intimidating," said Theroux. "The players of this game and the fans of the show are really sort of the shareholders, so you don't want to disappoint them. But I worked very hard to hopefully not do that."

Also joining the cast are actors Macaulay Culkin and Kumail Nanjiani, as well as a host of new creatures, brought to life by puppeteers.

The eight-episode second season of "Fallout" starts streaming on Prime Video on December 17, with a new episode released weekly.

Entertainment

Asterix in Germany: France’s Irrepressible Gaul to Conquer Neighbor

This photograph taken on June 2, 2021 shows a closed ride at the Asterix amusement park in Plailly, outskirts of Paris, one week before its reopening. (AFP)
This photograph taken on June 2, 2021 shows a closed ride at the Asterix amusement park in Plailly, outskirts of Paris, one week before its reopening. (AFP)
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Asterix in Germany: France’s Irrepressible Gaul to Conquer Neighbor

This photograph taken on June 2, 2021 shows a closed ride at the Asterix amusement park in Plailly, outskirts of Paris, one week before its reopening. (AFP)
This photograph taken on June 2, 2021 shows a closed ride at the Asterix amusement park in Plailly, outskirts of Paris, one week before its reopening. (AFP)

A theme park based on the beloved French comic strip series Asterix is to open in Germany, the first time the adventures of the pugnacious Gaul are to be the focus of an attraction outside France, its operator said on Tuesday.

An existing theme park called Belantis outside the east German city of Leipzig is to morph into an Asterix theme park by 2030-2031, operator Compagnie des Alpes said.

The new attraction will be a twin of the vast Parc Asterix outside Paris, one of France's premier tourist attractions which opened in 1989.

The change at the park in Germany will take place gradually, with the first area dedicated to Idefix -- the dog of Asterix's burly sidekick Obelix -- opening as early as March 2026, the French group said.

In terms of the numbers sold of Asterix comic books -- originally written and illustrated by the duo of Rene Goscinny and Albert Uderzo -- Germany is the second largest market, just behind France.

Compagnie des Alpes said that "this park has the potential to eventually welcome nearly 900,000 visitors per year".

The second most visited amusement park in France after Disneyland Paris, Parc Asterix welcomed 2.9 million visitors during the 2024-2025 season. It is currently ranked 8th most visited in Europe.

With the book franchise showing no sign of slowing after the deaths of Goscinny in 1977 and Uderzo in 2020, the latest Asterix cartoon adventure released in October was published in 19 languages and across 25 countries set in ancient Portugal.

"Asterix in Lusitania" was the 41st instalment in the legendary series, taking him to the far reaches of the Roman Empire, in an adventure now created by author Fabcaro and illustrator Didier Conrad.