China Lifts De Facto Marvel Ban; 'Last of Us' Scares Up Big Premiere Ratings; Janelle Monáe on Keeping Their 'Glass Onion' Characters Straight; NBC's 'Night Court' Review

[View on web]( [New reader? Subscribe]( January 17, 2023 What's news: Avatar 2 crosses $1.9b worldwide. Kevin Spacey received a lifetime achievement award in Italy. Netflix has unveiled its biggest-ever annual slate of Korean films and series. The Woman King was named best film by the African American Film Critics Association. — [Abid Rahman]( China Lifts De Facto Marvel Ban ►Back in business! At long last, Marvel and Disney appear to be getting a break in China. The studio’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania both locked down China release dates, ending a de facto three-and-a-half year ban on all Marvel movie releases in the country. Black Panther 2 will unfurl in China on Feb. 7, followed by Ant-Man 3 on Feb. 17, day-and-date with North America. [The story.]( —Edging closer. Meanwhile, Disney's Avatar: The Way of Water crossed the $1.9b mark globally on Monday. The movie is now assured of becoming only the sixth film to cross the $2b mark at the worldwide box office, not adjusted for inflation. The sequel’s international gross stood at $1.33b through Sunday, including $211.8m in China, the best showing of the pandemic era for a Hollywood film. [The box office report.]( —"The courage, the balls, to invite me." Italy’s National Museum of Cinema in Turin on Monday paid tribute to Kevin Spacey. The Oscar winner was awarded the Stella della Mole Award for lifetime achievement and also took part in a masterclass. Enzo Ghigo, president of the National Museum, and Vittorio Sgarbi, undersecretary to the Italian Ministry of Culture, presented Spacey with the prize. Missing from the talk and the entire evening was any discussion or mention of the sexual assault charges Spacey is currently facing in the U.K. [The story.]( —Leaning in. Netflix unveiled its biggest-ever annual slate of Korean films and series on Tuesday, while stating that over 60 percent of its global subscribers watched Korean content in 2022. The company showcased 34 titles in its 2023 slate announcement, including 11 previously unknown projects. The 2023 slate includes a raft of returning K-content hits, such as new seasons of Sweet Home, D.P., and part two of breakout hit The Glory. [The story.]( 'Last of Us' Scares Up Big Premiere Ratings ►Strong start. The Last of Us delivered 4.7m cross-platform viewers on Sunday night, according to Nielsen and first-party data from HBO. That figure trails only House of the Dragon’s nearly 10m among HBO series premieres in the past decade-plus. Other than the Game of Thrones prequel, the last HBO show with a larger opening-night audience for its debut was Boardwalk Empire (4.81m) in 2010 — several years before HBO had any serious streaming presence. [The ratings.]( —"There are definite instances where we would require ourselves to adhere as strongly as possible to the source material." THR's [Brian Davids]( spoke to The Last of Us star Gabriel Luna about the most emotional and harrowing moments from the series premiere. Luna discusses how showrunner Craig Mazin had to occasionally talk creator Neil Druckmann out of making changes to the beloved 2013 video game he wrote. Warning: spoilers. [The interview.]( —"He remembers every single crew member and all the background actors." THR's nicest man [Chris Gardner]( had a nice chat with the equally nice Park Chan-wook where the topic of Robert Downey Jr.'s legendary niceness came up. Park, who is currently in production on the post-Vietnam War drama series The Sympathizer for HBO and A24 which stars Downey, added that the actor's performance will be a challenge in the editing bay because of his constant and witty improv. [The story.]( Janelle Monáe on Keeping Their 'Glass Onion' Characters Straight ►"I think we know these characters, we see them every single day." THR's [Abbey White]( spoke to Glass Onion star Janelle Monáe about the film’s queer inclusion. The multihyphenate also discusses their love for murder mystery games, how the film's racial diversity gave its themes unexpected layers and how the experience informed their directorial ambitions. [The interview.]( —🏆 "Visionary work" 🏆 The African American Film Critics Association revealed the winners of the 14th annual AAFCA Awards on Monday. The Woman King wins best picture and best director while Danielle Deadwyler, Brian Tyree Henry, Jeremy Pope and Angela Bassett win acting honors. [The winners.]( —🏆 Rising stars 🏆 Ahead of the full lineup of BAFTA nominations due to be unveiled on Thursday, the British Academy has unveiled the nominees for its Rising Star award for up-and-coming on-screen talent, the only honor to be voted on by the public. The 2023 crop of nominees includes Naomi Ackie (I Wanna Dance With Somebody), Sheila Atim (The Woman King), Daryl McCormack (Bad Sisters), Aimee Lou Wood (Living) and Emma Mackey (Sex Education). [The story.]( 'Hunters' Creator on Telling an Urgent Story of Antisemitism in S2 ►"Evil will always exist." THR's [Christy Piña]( spoke to David Weil, creator of the Amazon drama Hunters, who discusses Al Pacino’s return as Meyer Offerman, Jonah’s evolution over the course of the show, why he chose to make season two less graphic than season one and what comes next for the hunters. Warning spoilers. [The interview.]( —"It's exciting for the whole family." Steven Spielberg has expressed his joy that daughter Destry Allyn Spielberg is following in his footsteps by closing a deal to make her feature directorial debut. In a new interview, the legendary filmmaker gave his thoughts on his daughter's upcoming film Four Assassins (And a Funeral), a project, based on Ryan Hooper’s script that made the Black List, described as a mashup of the Kingsman franchise, Knives Out and Succession. [The story.]( —"Working with two women like Emma and Viola in the same year, back-to-back, you’re reminded that we’re all humans making choices." THR's [Tyler Coates]( spoke to Lashana Lynch about filming Matilda the Musical and The Woman King one after the other and what she learned from co-stars Emma Thompson and Viola Davis. [The interview.]( —Burning questions. The most elusive couple of The White Lotus has weighed in on some of the show’s outstanding theories. When appearing together on Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live, Meghann Fahy and Theo James, who played married couple Daphne and Cameron, are in sync on many of the burning questions left over after the second season of the hit HBO series. [The story.]( TV Review: 'Night Court' ►"Erratic, but Larroquette makes it worth the watch." THR's chief TV critic [Dan Fienberg]( reviews NBC's Night Court. Melissa Rauch stars as the new night judge who recruits a down-on-his-luck Dan Fielding (John Larroquette) as public defender. [The review.]( In other news... —The Mandalorian [reveals season 3 trailer, new directors]( —Saint Omer [wins top prize at Palm Springs International Film Festival]( —Sally Field [named recipient of SAG Life Achievement Award]( —Fremantle hires [Andrew Llinares as director of global entertainment]( —[Brian Tufano]( cinematographer on Trainspotting, Billy Elliot, dies at 83 —[Hector Ramirez]( cameraman with 20 Primetime Emmys, dies at 78 —[Jean Veloz]( famed lindy hop dancer, dies at 98 What else we're reading... —Matt Stieb lists every single lie told by George Santos [[Intelligencer]( —Eric Francisco looks at how Japanese superhero franchises such as Ultraman and Tokusatsu have their sights set on the west in 2023 [[Inverse]( —Rory Satran writes that red carpet fashion is taking on the "last taboo" of showing off your belly button [[WSJ]( —Alexis Soloski interviews John Larroquette on returning to play Dan Fielding in Night Court [[NYT]( —Rob Anderson on why Copenhagen restaurant Noma made fine dining worse [[Atlantic]( Today... ...in 1940, Remember the Night opened at the Paramount Theatre in Times Square, with the Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray starrer grossing $45,000 in its first week “in spite of the freezing weather which cuts into all Broadway Theatre receipts." [The original review.]( Today's birthdays: [James Earl Jones]( (92), Song Kang-ho (56), Jim Carrey (61), Zooey Deschanel (43), Amy Sherman-Palladino (57), Lucy Boynton (29), Steve Harvey (66), Willa Fitzgerald (32), Naveen Andrews (54), Denis O'Hare (61), Kelly Marie Tran (34), Joshua Malina (57), Leigh Whannell (46), Freddy Rodríguez (48), Isa Briones (24), Hale Appleman (37), Indya Moore (28), Nigel Lindsay (54), Harry Collett (19), Brian Helgeland (62), Genndy Tartakovsky (53), Susanna Hoffs (64), D.J. Caruso (58), Bart Freundlich (53), Kevin Reynolds (71) C.J. Harris, a prominent contestant on the 13th season of American Idol, died Sunday night in Jasper, Ala. He was 31. [The obituary.]( Do you have THR's next big story? Confidentially share tips with us at [tips@thr.com](mailto:tips@thr.com?subject=). This email was sent to {EMAIL} by Penske Media Corporation. Please add email@email.hollywoodreporter.com to your address book to ensure delivery to your inbox. 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