Before Oscars, ‘Everything Everywhere’ Sweeps Spirit Awards

Jamie Lee Curtis, Michelle Yeoh, Dan Kwan, Stephanie Hsu, Jonathan Wang, Daniel Scheinert and Ke Huy Quan winners of the Best Feature award for "Everything Everywhere All at Once" pose in the press room during the 2023 Film Independent Spirit Awards in Santa Monica, US, March 4, 2023. (Reuters)
Jamie Lee Curtis, Michelle Yeoh, Dan Kwan, Stephanie Hsu, Jonathan Wang, Daniel Scheinert and Ke Huy Quan winners of the Best Feature award for "Everything Everywhere All at Once" pose in the press room during the 2023 Film Independent Spirit Awards in Santa Monica, US, March 4, 2023. (Reuters)
TT
20

Before Oscars, ‘Everything Everywhere’ Sweeps Spirit Awards

Jamie Lee Curtis, Michelle Yeoh, Dan Kwan, Stephanie Hsu, Jonathan Wang, Daniel Scheinert and Ke Huy Quan winners of the Best Feature award for "Everything Everywhere All at Once" pose in the press room during the 2023 Film Independent Spirit Awards in Santa Monica, US, March 4, 2023. (Reuters)
Jamie Lee Curtis, Michelle Yeoh, Dan Kwan, Stephanie Hsu, Jonathan Wang, Daniel Scheinert and Ke Huy Quan winners of the Best Feature award for "Everything Everywhere All at Once" pose in the press room during the 2023 Film Independent Spirit Awards in Santa Monica, US, March 4, 2023. (Reuters)

"Everything Everywhere All At Once" continued its awards sweep at the Film Independent Spirit Awards on its path to the Oscars next weekend. The multiverse-hopping adventure collected awards for best picture, directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, actors Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan and Stephanie Hsu, screenplay and editing.

"Thank you to everyone who makes crazy, weird independent movies," Scheinert said.

Awards were handed out Saturday afternoon in a tent on the beach in Santa Monica, Calif., and the show was streamed live on YouTube and Twitter.

First-time Spirit Awards host Hasan Minhaj opened the show saying, "Of all the awards shows, this is by far, one of them."

Minhaj went hard on everything, from the entertainment trade website Deadline ("At this point, Deadline is half gossip, half Ezra Miller crime tracker," he said) to the show’s lack of a broadcast partner.

"The Independent Film Channel did not want the Independent Film Awards," he said, noting that the channel chose to show the poorly reviewed Will Ferrell movie "Semi-Pro" instead.

"Awards shows are dead," he added. "My 2-year-old watches slime videos with more viewers than the Oscars."

The first prize of the afternoon went to Quan for best supporting actor for "Everything Everywhere All At Once," which his co-star Jamie Lee Curtis was also nominated for. This is the first year the Spirit Awards embraced gender neutral acting awards – both lead and supporting performance categories had 10 nominees. Quan, who is expected to win the supporting actor Oscar next week, chose to devote his speech to many of the crew who worked on the film, from the stunt coordinators to the production assistants.

Hsu later collected the prize for best breakthrough performance for the film.

"This is my first ever individual award and it feels incredibly appropriate that it’s in this room. I feel so honored" she said. "I really want to thank the Daniels so much. Thank you so much for finding me and believing in my art and seeing me and championing me."

Laura Poitras’s "All the Beauty and the Bloodshed" won best documentary. The film looks at the life of photographer and activist Nan Goldin.

"It would take me the entire day to fully express my gratitude to Nan for her collaboration and for her trust," Poitras said. "She’s taught me so many things in making this film, most importantly the role of art and artists to change not only society but how we understand the world we live in."

"Women Talking" was previously announced as winner of the Robert Altman Award, celebrating director Sarah Polley, casting directors John Buchan and Jason Knight, and the ensemble cast including Jessie Buckley, Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, Ben Whishaw and Frances McDormand.

"It’s so fitting the way that you’re being recognized for the beautiful, supportive, loving ensemble that you are," Polley said.

She also called her film "Women Are Talking" in a nod to Mark Wahlberg’s slip-up at the Screen Actors Guild Award s last week.

"Sorry, Marky Mark just gets in my head," she said.

Apple TV+’s "Pachinko" got the corresponding award on the television side.

Nathan Fielder had the crowd laughing accepting his award for non-scripted series for his HBO show "The Rehearsal" and detailing the contents of the lunch boxes at everyone’s seats.

"The bean salad was great," he said. "There were a few grapes also. Delicious. They weren’t rotten. None were rotten."

Looking down at his award, he said, "I guess they’ll add the name to it later?"

"Nanny" director Nikyatu Jusu won the Someone to Watch award.

"Thank God Charlotte Wells was not in this category because all year ‘Aftersun’ has been whooping my ass," Jusu said.

"Aftersun" did win best first feature later in the afternoon.

"Here’s to the second feature," Wells said.

Other winners included "Joyland" (best international film), "The Bear" (new scripted series and supporting actor Ayo Edebiri), "The Cathedral" (The John Cassavetes Award), John Patton Ford (first screenplay for "Emily the Criminal") and "Tár" cinematographer Florian Hoffmeister.

Winners are voted on by members of the non-profit organization Film Independent. The budget cap for eligible films was recently raised from $22.5 million to $30 million.

Kwan closed the show with some words of inspiration to dream big.

"We are in the middle of an identity crisis, the industry at large is confused as to what’s happening next and it’s really scary especially for the independent world, but I want to offer up a reframe: This is an opportunity," Kwan said.

"When things are shaking and it gets turbulent and cracks form in the foundation, that’s the best time to plant seeds. It is our job not just to adapt to the future but also to actively dream up what kind of future we want to rewrite and what kind of future we want to be working and living in," Kwan continued. "I urge us all to dream really big. What we do here is going to flow upstream to the rest of the industry."



English Version of Animated Chinese Hit 'Ne Zha 2' Heading to Theaters

FILE PHOTO: Michelle Yeoh poses during the Oscars arrivals at the 97th Academy Awards in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, US, March 2, 2025. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Michelle Yeoh poses during the Oscars arrivals at the 97th Academy Awards in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, US, March 2, 2025. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni/File Photo
TT
20

English Version of Animated Chinese Hit 'Ne Zha 2' Heading to Theaters

FILE PHOTO: Michelle Yeoh poses during the Oscars arrivals at the 97th Academy Awards in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, US, March 2, 2025. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Michelle Yeoh poses during the Oscars arrivals at the 97th Academy Awards in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, US, March 2, 2025. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni/File Photo

A24 and CMC Pictures are teaming up to bring an English-language version of the globally successful Chinese animated film "Ne Zha 2" to theaters in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand on August 22, the companies said on Wednesday.

The animated blockbuster "Ne Zha 2" overtook Pixar's "Inside Out 2" in February to become the highest-grossing animated film globally, according to data from ticketing platform Maoyan.

"Ne Zha 2" amassed a total box office of 12.3 billion yuan ($1.71 billion) including pre-sales and overseas earnings, making it the eighth highest box office film worldwide, Reuters reported.

The English-language cast will include Academy Award winner Michelle Yeoh. No other voice actors have been announced so far.

"I'm honored to be part of Ne Zha 2, a landmark in Chinese animation and a powerful reminder of how universal our stories can be," the Malaysian actor said in a statement.

The sequel film follows the first "Ne Zha" film from 2019 and is based on Chinese mythology.

The story follows Ne Zha, a rebellious young boy, who is feared by the gods and born to mortal parents with wild, uncontrolled powers.

He's faced with an ancient force intent on destroying humanity and must grow up to become the hero the world needs.

The film, which will be released in IMAX and 3D, was written and directed by filmmaker Yang Yu, who also developed the first movie. Over 99% of the mythological movie's box office income came from mainland China, starkly in contrast to Hollywood films, which typically rely on a more global distribution strategy.

"Ne Zha 2" is based on a 16th century Chinese novel "The Investiture of the Gods," depicting a hero boy with magic power who tried to defend Chentangguan, a fortress town.