Entertainment

While women have made great strides in the movie industry in the past few years, the results of a new study shows there’s more work that needs to be done when it comes to equality. 

The annual report from the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University shows just 7% of the movies released in 2021 featured more women than men. The report has kept tabs of female representation in the top 100 domestic grossing films since 2002.

The study, titled “It’s a Man’s (Celluloid) World” and written by the center’s executive director Dr. Martha Lauzen, shows that of the films released in 2021, 85% featured more men than women, and male characters outnumbered female by almost two to one. 

Just 31% of 2021’s box office offerings featured sole female protagonists, the study notes — and major female characters dropped from 38% in 2020 to 35% in 2021. Just 8% of the films released in 2021 featured an equal number of male and female characters, according to the report. 

Some bright spots: movies centering on sole female characters bumped up to 31% in 2021, up from 29% in 2020, and the percentage of the top-grossing films in the U.S. that featured female protagonists increased from 29% in 2020 to 31% in 2022. 

However, that news is tempered by the fact that only 34% of all speaking characters in film were female in 2021, down from 36% in 2019. What’s more, gender stereotypes still persisted onscreen in 2021: “Female characters were younger and more likely to have a known marital status than males. Male characters were more likely than females to have an identifiable occupation,” Lauzen also noted. 

“In good times and pandemic times, male characters rule in film,” she concludes.

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Will Smith is setting the record straight when it comes to the “entanglement” his wife, Jada Pinkett-Smith, had with singer August Alsina. 

The 53-year-old actor told CBS Sunday Morning, “There’s never been infidelity in our marriage. Never.”

“Jada and I talk about everything and we have never surprised one another with anything, ever,” he added.

The statement comes nearly two years after Jada, 50, revealed on Red Table Talk that she and the King Richard star had briefly split in 2016 and she then became involved in an “entanglement” with Alsina, 29. 

The admission caused a lot of chatter about the couple’s marriage. So, how does Will deal with it all?

“I have decided that chatter about my life can be of benefit to people,” he shared. “I think that chatter is the first stage to having a real conversation and being able to truly explore if some of the things in your heart are loving or poisonous.”

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The NBC medical drama New Amsterdam will end with its previously announced fifth season, according to Deadline. The series stars Ryan Eggold as Dr. Max Goodwin, who juggles a cancer diagnosis with his new role as the medical director of the oldest public hospital in America. Since being renewed for its third, fourth, and fifth seasons in 2020, the show has seen its ratings steadily decline. New Amsterdam airs Tuesdays on NBC. The season four finale is slated to air May 24…

CODA star Marlee Matlin will make her directorial debut with Fox’s upcoming anthology crime drama Accused. The Oscar-winning actress will helm an episode about “a deaf woman who becomes a surrogate and commits a crime of advocacy and protection,” according to The Hollywood Reporter. “I could not be more excited for the opportunity to direct, and to work on a project with such esteemed, talented, and skilled producers, writers, cast and crew,” says Matlin. “I’ve never shied away from challenges and having the opportunity to be one of the first female, Deaf directors in television is one I am looking forward to”…

Salma Hayek is set to reprise the role of Kitty Softpaws in the upcoming Puss in Boots sequel The Last Wish, according to Deadline. Antonio Banderas will also return as the titular cat, joined this time by newcomers Harvey Guillén, Florence Pugh, Olivia Colman, Wagner Moura, Ray Winstone, John Mulaney, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Anthony Mendez and Samson Kayo. The Last Wish follows the daring outlaw Puss in Boots as he discovers that his passion for peril and disregard for safety have taken their toll, per Deadline. The original 2011 film — a spinoff of Shrek — followed Puss’ adventures prior to his debut appearance in Shrek 2. The film earned more than $149 million stateside and close to $555 million worldwide…

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Monday night’s episode of The Bachelor found Rachel and Gabby, dealing with the news of Susie‘s departure and Clayton‘s bombshell admission that he’d been intimate with both of them, and in love with all three women.

Devastated, Rachel and Gabby left the rose ceremony in tears, each wondering how that was possible and if they could move on in light of the news.

“He’s in love with all three of us?! And he’s heartbroken that Susie went home?” Gabby, addressing the camera said in disbelief.

“Ultimately, whoever I pick, I love the most,” Clayton told her afterwards, to which she angrily insisted, you “can’t measure” love.

Clayton then told Rachel that the love he felt for her was was not the love he felt for Gabby, explaining that they were “two different people,” and that he loved each of them “in different ways.”

When the rose ceremony recommenced, Rachel accepted Clayton’s rose, but Gabby didn’t, asking Clayton if he wanted to walk her out.

However, after an emotional conversation, Gabby had a change of heart and decided to stick around.

Each lady then met Clayton’s family and both were a hit, but just when things seemed to be back on track, Clayton had another stunning announcement, telling his parents that he missed Susie.

At that point, host Jessie Palmer interrupted the conversation with the news that Susie was still in Iceland.

“I didn’t realize she was still here,” said Clayton, adding that he wanted “just want one more shot with Susie. “That’s all I can ask for. I just want an answer.”

What happened next? We’ll find out when The Bachelor season 26 finale concludes, Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

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Jane Campion‘s latest win for The Power of the Dog, at Sunday night’s 2022 Critics Choice Awards, came tinged with cringe, thanks to a comment she made from the podium to Venus and Serena Williams. 

In picking up her latest trophy for the drama, as the only nominated female director going into awards season, Campion mentioned the sisters, who were in attendance supporting the award-winning movie about their lives, King Richard. 

“Venus and Serena, you’re such marvels,” Campion said, “However, you don’t play against the guys, like I have to.”

Social media users flamed the filmmaker for the implication that the tennis greats couldn’t hack it on the court against male competitors. The comments came fast and furious, stress on “furious.”

“Woman History month and you go and f*** over 2 of the greatest female athletes of the modern age WTF,” one Instagram user vented on an Instagram page that apparently isn’t even Campion’s.

“Check your white woman privilege at the door next time,” said another, in part. 

“PUT SOME RESPECT ON BLACK WOMEN…” said yet another on The Power of the Dog‘s Instagram page.

Campion soon apologized for the comment, saying in a statement quoted by Variety. “I made a thoughtless comment equating what I do in the film world with all that Serena Williams and Venus Williams have achieved. I did not intend to devalue these two legendary Black women and world-class athletes.”

The director added, “The fact is the Williams sisters have, actually, squared off against men on the court (and off), and they have both raised the bar and opened doors for what is possible for women in this world.”

Campion concluded, “The last thing I would ever want to do is minimize remarkable women. I love Serena and Venus. Their accomplishments are titanic and inspiring. Serena and Venus, I apologize and completely celebrate you.”

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She’s about to launch her latest film, The Lost City, on March 25, but after that, Oscar winner Sandra Bullock is going back to being a full-time mom. 

The adoptive mom of Louis, 12, and Laila, 10, commented to Entertainment Tonight, “I take my job very seriously when I’m at work.”

And now, she says? “…I just want to be 24/7 with my babies and my family.”

Calling being home “the place that makes me happiest,” Bullock noted her break is,”gonna be for a while,” with her attention focused on her kids, “servicing their every need” and acting as “their social calendar.”

The Lost City stars Channing Tatum as a Fabio-like cover model who attempts a rescue after Sandra’s romance novel author is kidnapped by an eccentric rich guy, played by Daniel Radcliffe. Oh, and Bullock’s buddy Brad Pitt also stars, as a dashing guy who, unlike Tatum’s character, is actually qualified for such a rescue mission. 

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(NOTE LANGUAGE) Jane Campion spelled out what she thought of Western veteran Sam Elliott‘s criticism of her film The Power of the Dog. Literally. 

“I think he’s being a bit of a B-I-T-C-H,” she told Variety on the red carpet of the Directors Guild Awards in Los Angeles Saturday night. “He’s not a cowboy; he’s an actor,” Campion went on.

As reported, the Lonesome Dove veteran and 1883 star recently told Marc Maron‘s WTF podcast that, although he called Campion a “brilliant director,” in his opinion, the award-winning film “a piece of s***.”  He also took offense at the portrayals of cowboys in the movie, as well as its “allusions to homosexuality.” Benedict Cumberbatch plays a grizzled rancher in The Power of the Dog, who is also repressing his gay identity. 

Campion continued, “The West is a mythic space and there’s a lot of room on the range,” adding of Elliott’s headline-grabbing critique, “I think it’s a little bit sexist.”

Elliott appears to be in the minority in his blunt disdain for The Power of the Dog, at least where critics are concerned. Campion was named best director at the DGA Awards, officially making her the frontrunner to win best director honors at the Academy Awards, airing live March 27 on ABC.

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(NOTE LANGUAGE) Jeff Bezos Blue Origins company on Monday officially confirmed a rumor that Saturday Night Live star Pete Davidson is heading to space. 

The stand-up and King of Staten Island star will be aboard the space exploration company’s fourth human flight of its New Shepard rocket on March 23, along with Party America CEO Marty Allen property developer Marc Hagle and his wife Sharon Hagle, who runs a science education non-profit; entrepreneur Jim Kitchen; and Commercial Space Technologies president Dr. George Nield.

The 20th flight of the New Shepard is scheduled for a 9:30 a.m. Eastern time lift off. 

Meanwhile, on Earth, Page Six reports Pete Davidson is “done being quiet” when it comes to online postings from Kanye West about Pete’s relationship with ‘Ye’s estranged wife, Kim Kardashian. 

The publication says it has confirmed texts from Pete to Kanye in which Davidson reportedly urged West to “calm down,” and noted, “Kim is literally the best mother I’ve ever met. What she does for those kids is amazing and you are so f***ing lucky that she’s your kids mom.”

Pete added, “I’ve decided im not gonna let you treat us this way anymore and I’m done being quiet. Grow the f*** up.”

And when West asked him where he was, Davidson reportedly showed a shirtless selfie, twisting the knife with, “In bed with your wife.”

Pete’s many tats were on display, and fans spotted a new “KIM” tattoo among the sea of ink.

A court earlier this month granted Kardashian’s request to be legally declared single while her divorce from West is finalized.

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Netflix has canceled The Baby-Sitters Club after two seasons, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Season two ranked ninth on the streamer’s global English-language top-10 series list for October 11-17, the week of its premiere, but dropped the week after. It did not make the streamer’s U.S. top 10 in the month after its premiere, per THR. The series, based on the best-selling book series, follows “the friendship and babysitting adventures of five best friends in Stoneybrook, Connecticut.”  The season two cast includes Sophie Grace, Malia Baker, Momona Tamada, Shay Rudolph, Anais Lee, Vivian Watson and Kyndra Sanchez, who took over the role of Dawn, replacing Xochitl Gomez…

Amazon Prime Video dropped the season-three teaser trailer of The Boys on Saturday. Star Trek movie series star Karl Urban plays Billy Butcher in the show about very flawed superheroes and the people seeking to make them pay. Season three of The Boys will debut on Prime Video with three episodes on June 3. New episodes will be available each Friday following, leading up to the epic season finale on July 8…

The third season of the Netflix series The Umbrella Academy will premiere June 22, the streaming service announced on Sunday. The series, starring Elliot Page, Tom Hopper, David Castañeda, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Robert Sheehan, Aidan Gallagher and Justin H. Min, centers on seven children adopted by billionaire industrialist Sir Reginald Hargreeves, who work together to solve a mystery surrounding the death of their father…

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The Batman held on to the top spot at the box office for the second straight week, earning an estimated $66 million. That pushes its 10-day total domestic take to $238.5 million, making it the highest-grossing movie released this year. The Batman‘s now made $463.2 million worldwide, on target to earn over half-a-billion dollars before the week is done.

Uncharted held on to second place, delivering just shy of $9.3 million in its third week of release. Its total domestic tally now stands at a little less than $113.4 million. Uncharted is performing even better overseas, where it has added an additional $187.9 million, bringing its current worldwide take to $301.3 million.

BTS: Permission to Dance on Stage — Seoul: Live Viewing posted a surprising third-place finish, grabbing an estimated $6.8 million. The film earned $32.6 million worldwide.

Dog finished the weekend in fourth place, delivering an estimated $5.3 million $47.8 million domestically and $6.4 million overseas, putting its worldwide total at $54.2 million.

Rounding out the top five was Spider-Man: No Way Home, which tacked on an estimated $4.1 million in its 13th week of release. The film’s domestic box office total now stands at $792.3 million. Overseas, No Way Home has collected $1.08 billion so far, putting its worldwide haul at just under $1.88 billion.

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