To paraphrase the great Mark Twain, the rumors of Netflix's demise have been greatly exaggerated. A few months ago, many fans and folks in the media thought that Netflix's recent dip in subscribers would spell the end for the streaming giant. Around the same time, other reports also began to surface about how much headway Disney Plus was making in the world of streaming, which only furthered the negative chatter. However, it's safe the say that Netflix is still as popular as ever. Netflix practically dominated the watercooler conversation in 2022 with Monster: The Jeffery Dahmer Story and Stranger Things season 4. Now you can add Tim Burton's Wednesday to the list as well. 

According to Comic Book Resources, Netflix's Wednesday just broke Stranger Things' record for watch time in a single week. The Jenny Ortega-led series features the eponymous Wednesday Addams alongside Luis Guzmán's comic strip accurate Gomez Addams and Catherine Zeta-Jones' Morticia. 

It seems viewers of Tim Burton's Wednesday are just as unblinking as its title character as the series has just broken Netflix's record for most hours viewed in one week for an English-language program, a distinction previously held by Stranger Things Season 4.

According to the streamer, which posted the news on Twitter, Wednesday has clocked 341.2 million hours viewed in its debut week. This bests Stranger Things Season 4's previous record of 335.01 million, which was set during the last week of May/first week of June.

Tim Burton's Addams Family spinoff series starring Jenna Ortega, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Luis Guzmán hit Netflix on Nov. 21, becoming the streamer's most watched series in 83 countries. The show has also been generally well-received by both critics and audiences, holding a 70% critic score and 88% audience rating at the time of this article. This makes Wednesday the best reviewed entry in the Addams Family franchise since Barry Sonnenfeld's Addams Family Values (1993), which holds a 74% critic rating and a 63% audience score.

https://www.cbr.com/wednesdays-first-week-absolutely-destroyed-stranger-things-audience-record/

In the first full trailer for the upcoming Super Mario Bros. movie from Illumination, fans of Nintendo's beloved mascot are quickly treated to a visual buffet that brilliantly displays the meticulous care that the animation studio took when crafting the film. 

For context, Mario fans had been immensely apprehensive about the film's fate since it was revealed that Chris Pratt would usurp the role of gaming's favorite plumber from Charles Martinet, the long-tenured voice of the character. Although the teaser for the impending film released during this year's New York Comic Con wowed audiences with its stunning visuals, several fans still wondered about Pratt's performance as Mario. The teaser provided a subtle taste but not nearly enough for lifelong fans to gauge the film on. We needed a full trailer. 

In the video linked above, you can watch the stunning trailer for The Super Mario Bros. movie that pays loving tribute to every aspect of the character's classic mythos. And Chris Pratt is still just talking like Chris Pratt. So, sorry about all that, everybody.

Unlike his cohorts in the Justice League, there's been a new Batman movie for every generation since the 80s. Batman's mythos and origin are so incredibly timeless that it doesn't require much effort to make the character work in live-action. In addition to the actors behind Batman's legendary cowl, other aspects of Batman change with each subsequent iteration. Take the Caped Crusader's Batmobile, for example.

You can infer a lot about the tone of a Batman flick depending on what his famous set of wheels looks like. In the grounded and realistic Nolan films, Christian Bale's armor-clad Batman possesses a tank variant of the Batmobile. Matt Reeves' version of the Dark Knight, who operates like an urban boogie man, boasts a sleek Batmobile that amplifies his status as the apex predator of Gotham's criminal contingent. And then there's the iconic 1989 Batmobile, equipped with a campy set of bat wings that perfectly establishes the highly theatrical and over-the-top incarnation that Tim Burton brought to cinemas.

If you're a fan of the 89 Batmobile and have a million dollars to blow, you can actually own the vehicle.

Warner Bros. Pictures' Batmobile from Tim Burton's live-action films Batman(1989) and Batman Returns (1992) is now being sold by Classic Auto Mall on consignment. Following its appearance in the two classic films, the car would end up at New Jersey's Six Flags where it was used as a prop for the Batman Returns roller coaster before being purchased by an avid movie car collector who now lists the historic vehicle to the public for the very first time.

The 1989 Batmobile is currently being offered for $1.5 million USD. Head over to the Classic Auto Mall website for a closer look.

Bruce Lee's impact on pop culture is immeasurable. Similar to Muhammad Ali and Marilyn Monroe, Lee's celebrity has transcended generations and helped the late actor remain a household name decades after his death. Resultantly, countless movie studios have made innumerable attempts to cash in on Lee's legacy through biopics. Despite being a movie star, twice over, Lee's life story has never transitioned to films that smoothly. Every attempt to turn Lee's journey into a biopic has always fallen short of the Little Dragon's legacy. 

According to Deadline, the son of iconic director Ang Lee—the director of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and Hulk(2003)—Mason Lee has snagged the role of Bruce Lee in a new biopic from Sony's 3000 Pictures. As long as the movie is even slightly better than Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, it'll be the best Bruce Lee biopic of all time. 

Sony's 3000 Pictures has finalized a deal that will see Oscar winner Ang Lee direct Bruce Lee, a film that will star the filmmaker's son Mason Lee in the role of the iconic martial artist. Dan Futterman, whose work includes Capote and Foxcatcher, is working on a script that has seen previous versions by Jean Castelli, Alex Law and Mabel Cheung, and, most recently, Wells Tower.

Lawrence Grey, Shannon Lee, Ang Lee, Ben Everard and Brian Bell are producing, and Elizabeth Gabler and Marisa Paiva are overseeing the project for the studio. The project will see Gabler, Paiva and Tom Rothman reunited with the director after they worked together previously on Life of Pi.

DC's film division has been the butt of the joke for a little under a decade. As Marvel has ascended to the top of the entertainment world, DC cinematic brand has been struggling to remain relevant. To combat the apathy from consumers regarding DC's film output, David Zaslav, the CEO of Warner Brothers Discovery, immediately made efforts course correct the sorry state of the DCEU. 

Hoping to replicate Marvel's success, Zaslav appointed James Gunn and Peter Safran to become joint heads of DC's new and improved film division. A few weeks after receiving the position, Gunn and Safran began to hint that their broader DC universe bible was nearing completion. Now it seems that their bible will extend beyond the silver screen. According to Comic Book Resources, James Gunn has let fans know that his version of the DC universe will stretch between film and television projects, similar to Marvel's efforts on Disney Plus. 

James Gunn confirmed that fans can expect a lot more crossover potential from the future of the DC Universe across various mediums.

While answering fan questions on Twitter, Gunn, the newly-appointed co-CEO of DC Studios, addressed whether he intends to create more shows for established live-action DC protagonists. "Yes, most definitely," the director wrote, assuring the fan that "the DCU will be connected across film and TV (and animation)." Gunn also responded to a user asking whether the DCU will retain "standalone animation or live-action shows that take place in separate worlds," confirming that this is still the case.

There's more to any job than the duties that are listed when you apply. Outside of the rigors and intricacies of one's professional responsibilities, other work-related hurdles must be cleared daily. One of the largest hurdles in any workplace is navigating the social scene inherent in any job. Unless you work from home, which still requires you to attend regular Zoom meetings, knowing how to deal with your coworkers is of paramount importance.

Learning how to play the game, as it pertains to scaling social hierarchies, will offer more opportunities than anything your performance alone could ever earn. Then again, dealing with the social scene at work can be a massive headache. Why not skip the whole thing?

A French man who frequently refused to join his coworkers for drinks after office hours sued his former employer for being unjustly fired. In the end, a French court ruled that the man has a legal right to be "boring at work" without losing his job.

An anonymous French man has won a legal lawsuit against his former company that fired him for "being boring" at the workplace. The case in question was lodged against Cubik Partners, a management consultancy, who claim to be using a 'fun' approach when it comes to team-building activities that included encouraging its staff members to gather in pubs after work hours. According to The Telegraph, Mr. T, the man who has chosen to remain anonymous, won the legal right to be boring at work, as a court in Paris ruled against his employer, deeming the agency wrong to fire him merely for not going out with colleagues.

Reportedly, Mr. T would decline to take part in the company's team-building activities. This resulted in his company firing him for 'professional inadequacy' back in 2015. The management company in its defence stated that the anonymous was a poor listener and difficult to work with. However, in a ruling that was made in the Paris Court of Cassation, it was stated that the man had every right to refuse to go to a party after work hours. In addition to this, the court further ordered the company to pay its former employee £2,574 (approximately Rs. 2.54 lakh) in damage.

Starship Troopers is in a league of its own when it comes to 90s science fiction films. Despite serving as an adaptation of the Robert A. Heinlein book, the Starship Troopers forges a unique identity through its striking visuals and deft use of satire. Since the film's release in 1997, there have been a plethora of attempts to turn the flick into a franchise. There were two pretty weak sequels that went straight to video in the 2000s, and Starship Troopers even generated a short-lived cartoon show. Tri-Star Pictures has been trying and failing to milk Starship Troopers with very little success. However, that may not be the case forever. 

In the video linked above, you can check the trailer for a new first-person shooter set in the universe of Starship Troopers. Until the franchise finds a creative team that can properly capture the essence of the first film, a video game might be the best option for the series. 

One of the wildest theories about the origin of our species is the "Stoned ape theory" proposed by Terrence McKenna. For those unfamiliar with the theory's central premise, McKenna believes that ape ancestors to the human race consumed psychedelic mushrooms that accelerated the growth of our brains. Now, the theory is just that, but the concept is a fun one. The idea of drugs serving as the key that unlocks our evolutionary potential wouldn't make a great D.A.R.E campaign, but it definitely affords one a wild piece of party conversation.

The question that arises from the "Stone ape theory" is what would happen if other animals got there first? Or, even more interesting, what other drugs could have an equally powerful effect on animals? The upcoming movie Cocaine Bear, directed by Elizabeth Banks, tackles the subject head-on by following the exploits of a- – well, bear that's high on coke. You can check out the first poster for the film in the link embedded above. 

Growing up as a Black comic fan, one of the primary jabs I would endure from racist bullies was that there were no Black superheroes of note. Obviously, the comment had no grounding in reality. Any superhero enthusiast worth their salt could rattle off at least 10 Black characters after waking up from a coma, but sometimes, perception is reality. To the general public, uneducated about the intricacies of superhero comics, Black superheroes didn't exist because they were absent in the world of television and film. 

You saw the title; you know where this is going. Chadwick Boseman shattered that glass ceiling while helping Marvel earn a billion dollars at the box office. Even though Wesley Snipes' Blade preceded Boseman's turn as Black Panther by decades, T'Challa's inclusion in the MCU marked a turning point for representation in modern films. A trend of representation that Marvel still promotes to this day.

Prior to donning the mantle of Black Panther, Boseman was already quite adept at portraying Black superheroes. His first breakthrough role as Jackie Robinson in 42 showcased his charisma and talent. Boseman would later play James Brown and Thurgood Marshall with the same level of professionalism and aplomb. 

It's sadly fitting that Boseman's birthday is today. At the time of this writing, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is still the undisputed box office queen several weeks into its run. The entire film is racked with the weight of Boseman's untimely passing and serves as a touching public wake for the millions of fans the actor's role impacted. I want to leave you with a scene from Boseman's first appearance as T'Challa that is perfectly apt for the actor's untimely passing. 

Happy Birthday, Chadwick Boseman. You are with the ancestors now. 

Anyone that's deeply enamored with the genre knows that almost every variant of the Western is awesome. From the classic Wayne and Ford films to modern incarnations like Hell or High Water, the Western genre rarely disappoints. However, there's just something special about Spaghetti Westerns. Whereas American Westerns in the late 60s and early 70s hadn't truly embraced the anti-hero, the Spaghetti Westerns from visionaries like Sergio Leone and Sergio Corbucci allowed their protagonists to be morally complex.

Whenever people tend to rank Leone's famous Dollars trilogy, arguably the most influential films in the Spaghetti Western genre, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly or A Fistful of Dollars, usually get top billing. Rare is the soul that recognizes that Leone's best film from the Dollars trilogy is actually the second entry: For a Few Dollars More. In the video linked above, the YouTuber Matt Draper talks about the massively overlooked middle child of the Dollars trilogy. 

In 2011, DC Comics decided that it was time to modernize its characters for the 21st century. By 2016, a mere five years later, DC pulled the plug on the rebrand, dubbed the New 52, and relaunched its continuity yet again with Rebirth. Although five years may seem like a long time in comic years, let's remember that DC allowed the Post Crisis continuity, dating back to 1985, to stand for over 20 years. Objectively, the New 52 failed, but this begs the question: why? 

Even though the New 52 hit the skids after half a decade, it's revisionist history to claim that all of the books incepted during the run were awful. Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang's Wonder Woman was an early standout; Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis breathed new life into Aquaman; Scott Synder and Greg Capullo began their character-defining run on Batman, and Jeff Leimer's Green Arrow was equally killer. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Swamp Thing, Green Lantern, Action Comics, and Animal Man were also quality titles under the New 52 umbrella. So, with all that talent, why did the line fail? 

In the video linked above, Comic Tropes analyses what went wrong with DC's incredibly ambitious rebrand. 

Tenoch Huerta's Namor was all kinds of fantastic in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Despite the film being loaded with tons of star power, including a career-high performance from Angela Basset, Huerta's turn as Bill Everett's classic Timely comics turned Marvel comics anti-hero was undoubtedly the most scene-stealing performance in the entire movie. In addition to Huerta's Namor, the Mayan-influenced Talokan the character presides over, although a wild departure from the comics, only added to the mystique of the MCU's newest star. When the end credits for Wakanda Forever rolled, fans immediately began to speculate when Namor would return to the MCU. 

If you were hoping to see Huerta reprise the role of Namor in a solo film, you're probably going to be waiting for a while. According to Gizmodo, thanks to Marvel optioning the rights to the character at Universal in the 90s, it's highly unlikely that Namor will receive his own movie in the MCU.

As it stands, Marvel's deal with Universal even affected Wakanda's promos: Moore continued that Namor couldn't even be alone on marketing materials unless it was for a poster. You know how some Marvel movies have commercials that hype up the danger of its villain? This was why Wakanda Forever did one for the Talokanil overall and not their leader specifically. "There weren't really things we couldn't do from a character perspective for him," he explained. "But we also made some big changes to really anchor him in that world in a truth that publishing never really landed on, I would argue, in a big way."

Disney's knack for making adorable anthropomorphic cartoon characters is virtually unmatched. By exaggerating key features, such as the eyes, Disney's talking animals can tug on one's heartstrings like a drunk harpist in an earthquake. There is a litany of characters that embody this practice, but few do it as poignantly as Bambi. Depending on your age bracket, Bambi was the first movie that broke your heart. 

Even though the character isn't alone in the pantheon of Disney characters that tragically lost a parent, the death of Bambi's mother tends to hit a little harder than the rest. The primary reason is the human culprit behind the hit. Well, after several decades, Bambi is about to get his revenge. 

Following in the footsteps of Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, a horror film starring the titular teddy bear, Bambi is about to get his very own horror movie courtesy of director Scott Jeffrey.

Scott Jeffrey, the director behind horror films "The Curse of Humpty Dumpty" and "The Bad Nun," revealed in an interview with Dread Central that he's directing a "dark retelling" of Felix Salten's nearly 100-year-old novel "Bambi."

"The film will be an incredibly dark retelling of the 1928 story we all know and love," Jeffrey told the outlet. "Bambi will be a vicious killing machine that lurks in the wilderness. Prepare for Bambi on rabies!"

Music is just melodic math. Even at its most simplistic, all music follows a numerical formula. Most songs tend to keep their arrangements from getting too complex, lest they alienate listeners that aren't acclimatized to various time signatures. A majority of music fans search for songs with layered grooves that are built on overlapping time signatures almost as sporadically as they seek out dissonance in their music. Consequently, Meshuggah, a metal band renowned for its use of complex math-based grooves, will always be a little off-putting to the general public. However, those that resonate with the band's discography understand that Meshuggah knows how to make math fun. 

Although almost every member of Meshuggah strives for math-heavy grooves that are as melodic as they are intricate, drummer Tomas Haake possesses a unique ability to marry the two seemingly divergent philosophies. In the video linked above, the YouTuber Timothy Ryan literally tries his hand at replicating Haake's drums from Bleed by only using his mouse. 

Legos might be the best toy of all time. Despite their relatively simple design, the famed plastic bricks have only grown in popularity alongside the advent of smart technology and the internet. Although they've always been a childhood favorite, Lego's elaborate theme sets helped push the brand over the top. From Star Wars and Harry Potter to Marvel and Fortnite, you can find a Lego set for virtually any IP in existence. However, Lego doesn't just do fictional sets. The toy giant is equally adept at creating beautiful replicas that capture the majesty of actual landmarks in the real world. 

Over the years, a host of landmarks have gotten the Lego treatment, becoming the star attraction under many a Christmas tree. This year, the company is looking to top itself with a new Eiffel tower set, constructed in segments, to stand at a staggering five feet tall when completed. 

Lego has revealed its tallest set ever. The Eiffel Tower set lets you build one of the world's most iconic landmarks. When you get it, you are not just building the tower, you're building it to a ridiculous height. The full set is 58 inches tall. That's nearly five feet tall. The set contains 10,001 pieces and "authentically" replicates the landmark. That includes the familiar trusswork, three observation platforms, landscaping around the base, elevators, an office at the top, and a broadcast tower. There is also a French flag to position at the very top. A Lego set coming in at nearly five feet tall is not only daunting but poses some logistical problems for fanatics. Addressing those issues, Lego says that the set separates into four sections to make it "manageable to build, move, and play with."

The tokusatsu genre has a unique magic you can't find in any other form of fiction. Sure, there's a lot of silliness inherent, but the genre more than makes up for it with its awesome ideas. Where else can you watch a group of superpowered teens pilot a giant robot that battles an evil, anthropomorphic snow cone? 

In the annals of the tokusatsu, you'd be hard-pressed to find an idea that isn't more interesting than the 70s series Iron King. The series centers on a cowboy guitarist named Gentaro Shizuka, who is also a secret agent. Oh, but wait, it gets better. Like any great tokusatsu series, Gentaro can transform into a giant robot. In this case, it's the eponymous Iron King, a hydro-powered robot. If that synopsis intrigues you enough, check out the video linked above for a great fight scene from the show. You can also find full episodes of Iron King on YouTube right now. 

Ice skating is one of those sports that is deceptively difficult. Upon initial inspection, it's easy for one to believe they'll instantly possess the grace and fluidity of professionals on the ice. How hard is it to slide around as opposed to walking? As anyone that has ever engaged with the activity will tell you, ice skating is actually quite challenging.

Like all of the great masters, professional ice skaters make the activity look so effortless that it makes neophytes feel as if the level of mastery expressed by experts is immediately attainable. Whenever you watch a top-tier ice skater spin like a toy ballerina in a music box, it's important to remember the hours of intense training that went into the move. In the video linked above, you can check out one of the exercises designed to help professional ice skaters practice their spinning technique. I'm not gonna lie; it looks pretty fun.

Movie budgets are getting out of hand. Recently, auteurs such as Quentin Tarantino and Martin Scorsese have railed against Marvel films making it impossible for smaller films to compete. A large part of the problem comes down to the financing committed to key franchises. Studios, at the end of the day, are concerned with making money, and the hefty billion-dollar return that special effects-laden movies fetch makes the $300 million budget they boast a decent deal. In the eyes of most studios, what's the point of wasting scratch on a smaller flick that will barely break even?

Next month, James Cameron's Avatar franchise returns with a long-awaited sequel. The film has a lot to live up to, as the first movie became the highest-grossing film of all time. Apparently, the budget for Avatar: The Way of Water is so laughably high that the film will have to become the "third or fourth highest-grossing movie" of all-time to break even. 

When it comes to blockbuster directors few are bigger than James Cameron, whose films have grossed more than $6 billion at the worldwide box office.

With the difficulties that come along with creating his films come massive budgets. The first "Avatar" cost nearly $250 million to produce, and Cameron says that in order for the second film to turn a profit it would "have to be the third or fourth highest grossing film in history. That's your threshold. That's your break even." 

Disney is in the middle of a—pardon the pun—tailspin as of late. The company's new animated feature Strange Worlds had an embarrassing showing in early previews and is projected to be a flop. Couple that with the steep 60% second-week declines at the box office suffered by every phase four Marvel movie not named Spider-Man: No Way Home, and Bob Iger's surprise return as Disney CEO makes more sense. 

Now that it's finally come to an end, it's safe to say that Marvel's fourth phase was undoubtedly its weakest. There's an innumerable list of factors that have led to Marvel's decline, but the studio's over-reliance on its trademark "quip a minute" formula is arguably the biggest one. The movie that perfectly encapsulates Marvel's phase four woes is Thor: Love and Thunder. The film became a lightning rod of controversy during its release, as many fans believed it was entirely too goofy. As it turns out, Chris Hemsworth is in full agreement and believes the Thor franchise desperately needs a new tone. 

Chris Hemsworth is in press tour mode of late, doing the rounds to promote his current Nat Geo/Disney+ documentary series Limitless. (Which, tragically, is not about what would happen if someone gave Hemsworth that pill.) The ensuing slate of interviews has had revelations both somber and not—including Hemsworth revealing he carries a genetic trait that's linked to a heightened risk of Alzheimer's disease, and that he intends to take more time away from work to spend with his family. But it's also, naturally, had a whole bunch of Thor talk, including a recent appearance on Josh Horowitz's Happy Sad Confused Podcast [h/t Screenrant] in which Hemsworth pretty bluntly stated that he's done with the more comedic version of the character that appeared in Thor: Ragnarok and this summer's Thor: Love And Thunder, both directed by Taika Waititi. "I don't know if I'm even invited back," Hemsworth hedged, echoing comments he's made about his uncertainty with the franchise at the moment. (Love And Thunder posted a perfectly respectable $760 million at the global box office, but drew middling notices from both audiences and critics.) "But if I was, I think it would have to be a drastically different version in tone, everything, just for my own sanity…"

Since we've been drowning in the deluge of mockumentary sitcoms that The Office incepted in the 2000s, it's easy to forget how innovative the show was during its initial run. When it was first announced that Ricky Gervais' hit sitcom was going to receive an American remake, fans of the original were undoubtedly skeptical. There's been a long and storied tradition of British shows suffering a poor American adaptation, and many believed The Office was fated for a similar end. Now that the series has left the air, many fans believe that the American Office is not only superior to the original but is also one of the best sitcoms of the 2000s. 

As the American Office was carving out its legacy, Cartoon Network's Adult Swim was making similar headway in the world of animation. What would it have been like if both comedy powerhouses collided in their prime? In the video linked above from Charlie Faulk's YouTube channel, you can check out how an Adult Swim merger with the Office might have gone.