Daily Archives: December 19, 2024

Ahead of Zebra’s OTT release, here’s how much the Satyadev film made in theaters

Zebra is Satyadev’s latest film, centered around a banking scam. The heist thriller, released on November 22, 2024, performed decently at the box office but failed to generate significant profits due to its lack of star power. As Zebra is set to stream on Aha starting December 20, 2024, here are the detailed closing collections of the film worldwide.Zebra OTT platform detailsAccording to the latest trade reports, Zebra earned a total gross of ₹6.2 crore during its theatrical run. While the makers invested a good amount in promoting the film, heavy competition from Lucky Baskhar and Amaran impacted its box office performance. Despite the challenges, Satyadev delivered a solid performance, marking his return to the big screen. The film also featured Dhananjaya in a pivotal role, with Priya Bhavani Shankar as the female lead.
Zebra Telugu filmZebra box office collections details hereMade on a low budget, Zebra performed well in multiplexes during its first week but struggled to attract audiences on single screens. The action drama will be available for streaming within a month of its theatrical release. Addressing this quick OTT transition, Satyadev stated that releasing films on OTT platforms within a month has become a common trend.Aha acquired the digital rights for a reasonable amount, helping the makers break even. Directed by Eashvar Karthic, the film boasts stunning visuals and engaging thrills. The story revolves around Satyadev and Priya Bhavani Shankar, who play bank employees involved in a fraudulent scheme.Poster of ZebraThe plot thickens as they face trouble from a goon, played by Dhananjaya, and must find a way to escape the mess. It remains to be seen how Zebra performs on Aha after its release on December 20, 2024. Stay tuned for more updates on this OTT release.

Ahead of Zebra’s OTT release, here’s how much the Satyadev film made in theaters

Zebra is Satyadev’s latest film, centered around a banking scam. The heist thriller, released on November 22, 2024, performed decently at the box office but failed to generate significant profits due to its lack of star power. As Zebra is set to stream on Aha starting December 20, 2024, here are the detailed closing collections of the film worldwide.Zebra OTT platform detailsAccording to the latest trade reports, Zebra earned a total gross of ₹6.2 crore during its theatrical run. While the makers invested a good amount in promoting the film, heavy competition from Lucky Baskhar and Amaran impacted its box office performance. Despite the challenges, Satyadev delivered a solid performance, marking his return to the big screen. The film also featured Dhananjaya in a pivotal role, with Priya Bhavani Shankar as the female lead.
Zebra Telugu filmZebra box office collections details hereMade on a low budget, Zebra performed well in multiplexes during its first week but struggled to attract audiences on single screens. The action drama will be available for streaming within a month of its theatrical release. Addressing this quick OTT transition, Satyadev stated that releasing films on OTT platforms within a month has become a common trend.Aha acquired the digital rights for a reasonable amount, helping the makers break even. Directed by Eashvar Karthic, the film boasts stunning visuals and engaging thrills. The story revolves around Satyadev and Priya Bhavani Shankar, who play bank employees involved in a fraudulent scheme.Poster of ZebraThe plot thickens as they face trouble from a goon, played by Dhananjaya, and must find a way to escape the mess. It remains to be seen how Zebra performs on Aha after its release on December 20, 2024. Stay tuned for more updates on this OTT release.

2024’s best movies: Bold artistic risks, inspiring dramas

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 19 (UPI) — The biggest movies of 2024 have been sequels, mashups like Deadpool & Wolverine or the Broadway adaptation Wicked. Many of them have been fun or even great. The best movies of 2024 though were more unique artistic visions, and the fact that they even made it to the screen is admirable in this media landscape.
They’re not all independent film festival movies. Some are studio or streaming productions, and one that happens to be self-financed by a wealthy Hollywood legend. Links direct readers to UPI’s reviews whenever available, while the list also highlights numerous films discovered post-release.
Advertisement
10. ‘Trap’
By not screening Trap for critics, Warner Bros. cost Josh Hartnett potentially the best reviews of his career and solid ones for M. Night Shyamalan, if not Sixth Sense level. Saleka Shyamalan plays a pop star who uses her concert as a trap to catch a serial killer (Hartnett), who is bringing his daughter to the show. Imagine if Taylor Swift pulled that. Night apparently did and exhausts every creative scenario as the killer and performer each keep regaining the upper hand.
Advertisement
9. ‘Anora’
This indie drama upends many Hollywood conventions. The wealthy kid marrying a stripper/escort and the woman falling for her benefactor both come crashing down. But what’s most fun is the Russian thugs who come to break them up. They aren’t smooth operators and become completely overwhelmed by both Anora (Mikey Madison) and her flaky husband (Mark Eydelshteyn).
8. ‘Sing Sing’
Based on the real-life acting program at Sing Sing penitentiary, and including many former inmates in the cast, Sing Sing is a profound, inspiring drama about finding hope and redemption through art. It really conveys the process of helping a hardened criminal (Clarence Maclin) learn healthier behavior, not in a cheesy Hollywood way, yet acknowledges the very real hardships of life inside and the system that unjustly keeps many like Divine G (Colman Domingo) incarcerated.
7. ‘Ghostlight’
Movies about grief are universal because there’s no avoiding it in anyone’s life, and inherently dramatic because there’s no definitive ending. In the best resolution, the mourners are still grieving. In Ghostlight, a family who lost a son tries to cope with the parents and surviving daughter’s (real life family Keith Kupferer, Tara Mallen and Katherine Mallen Kupferer) reactions in the aftermath and the ongoing wrongful death lawsuit. The art of theater acting provides tools for healing in this movie too, and the cast portrays confronting the tragedy beautifully.
[embedded content]
Advertisement

6. ‘Better Man’
They’re still making biopics about singers that go through the motions of summarizing the major events of their lives. The Robbie Williams movie makes that fresh by using a computer-generated monkey to represent Williams. This circumvents the “celebrity playing a celebrity” factor and adds undeniable melodrama to Williams’ darkest periods, while still delivering a musical that rocks. UPI’s full review is coming next week.
5. ‘Shirley’
From earlier this year on Netflix, this Shirley Chisolm biopic is inspiring for depicting the unique ways Chisolm made a difference in the system. The first Black Congresswoman and 1972 presidential candidate (played by Regina King) had a vision for what she could accomplish. She stood in the face of resistance with kindness but remained firm.
Her ultimate message is no matter how frustrating the system, the only way to change it is to be part of the process, even just by voting. Obviously Chisolm did not win that election but her campaign itself offered a hopeful, constructive view of politics.
4. ‘Megalopolis’
It cost Francis Ford Coppola half of his vineyards to finally get to make Megalopolis, an idea he’s had since the ’70s. For only the cost of a movie ticket or rental, viewers share the magnitude of this production and creative effort. Coppola has unconventional ideas about the rise and fall of empires and how to even depict that story, and that’s what cinema should be. Realism can be great but it’s limiting. Movies that ignore those limits successfully like Megalopolis should be celebrated.
Advertisement
3. ‘The Substance’
The Substance begins with an idea provocative enough that if that were the end of the story it would be memorable. For writer/director Coralie Fargeat, that idea is only the beginning. She posits that the substance can birth a younger version of oneself, but then creates further conflicts between both versions of an actor (Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley) and the society that drives them to crave youth.

2. ‘Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga’
In the fifth movie of this 45-year-old franchise, George Miller’s post-apocalyptic world keeps getting more captivating. There is a childlike quality to the violent mobs who rose from the ashes. Without the education that came before the apocalypse, they try to interpret the new world and yet use the vehicles and weaponry they find to exact epic violence. Furiosa lives in those worlds longer than some of its more chase-oriented predecessors.
1. ‘A Real Pain’
Ever since A Real Pain premiered at Sundance, no other film has bumped it from the top spot. Writer/director Jesse Eisenberg has achieved a dramedy that explores the pains of generational trauma, in this case descendants of a family that survived the Holocaust, and miraculously finds empathy for its most abrasive character (Kieran Culkin).
Advertisement

Julianne Moore: Almodóvar movies inspired craft as young actor

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 19 (UPI) — Julianne Moore said Spanish director Pedro Almodovar’s movies inspired her craft as a young actor. Moore, 64, stars in Almodovar’s latest film, The Room Next Door, in theaters Friday.
Moore said she was in her 20s, watching Almodovar’s classics like Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. Carmen Maura’s performance taught Moore she could convey contradictory emotions.
Advertisement
“She would cry and cry and cry, but it was so hysterically funny at the same time,” Moore told UPI in a recent Zoom interview. “It never occurred to me as a young actor that I could hold those two things at once.”
The Room Next Door is Almodovar’s first English-language film. It stars Moore and Tilda Swinton as friends who cross paths later in life.
Martha (Swinton) asks Ingrid (Moore) to stay with her at a vacation house until Ingrid ends her life. Ingrid wants to enjoy as much time as she can and plans to take a chemical compound when her illness becomes too painful to bear.
Advertisement
Since Almodovar had only worked in Spanish before, Moore said she never expected to have the chance to work with him. He cast Swinton first, who later shared with Moore how they agreed to cast her.
“They both wrote emails at the same time with a name on it and the emails crossed,” Moore said. “They’d both written my name, which was so lovely.”
Working with Almodovar, Moore said she was impressed by the specificity of his direction –. that he could convey his intentions with the colors he chose or where he placed the actors in the frame.
“The way the women look, their faces and their clothes, the way people move, the way he sees the word, there’s nothing accidental about it,” Moore said. “His rhythms are also in his head.”
The tale of The Room Next Door contains the contradictions that so appealed to Moore. Ingrid is conflicted about assisted suicide, but wants to be there for her friend.
Martha projects conviction about her decision, but sometimes reveals uncertainty in vulnerable moments. Moore found that dynamic realistic to close friendships.
“There’s friction in relationships, particularly in intimate relationships,” Moore said. “When you’re very connected and you’re in one another’s lives, there are going to be clashing points of view and even things behaviorally that can get on your nerves.”
Advertisement
Moore said she also believes movies about difficult subjects can help viewers talk about them. She saw performances like hers and Swinton’s as representing experiences people may be having in real life.
“When we see ourselves reflected, we feel validated and we feel seen,” Moore said. “There are ways for you to see yourself, project yourself and have an actual, authentic emotional experience.”
The set of The Room Next Door was open to having such conversations, Moore said. However, Moore said it was equally conducive to normal workplace banter among the crew.
“People do talk about things that have happened to them that are personal and emotional, and they do talk about what they’re going to have for lunch,” Moore said. “Both things occur.”
Last year, Moore appeared in another film about a controversial subject, May December. She played a teacher married to her former student.
May December also sparked discussions about real-life cases like Mary Kay Letourneau, who was convicted of rape of her 13-year-old student, whom she married.
However, Moore said she also was pleased that audiences embraced her delivery of the line, “I don’t think we have enough hot dogs.” Fans on social media highlighted Moore’s intense delivery of the line as her fictional character prepared for a barbecue, with a musical sting to match the intensity of her concern.
Advertisement
“I love that line,” Moore said. “I love that movie, and it’s always really gratifying when something resonates with people and goes viral.”
She said she was not surprised, however, that the hot dog line stood out to viewers.
“It’s a pretty great line,” Moore said.

.stph_caption .title{color: #000000;}

Left to right, Tilda Swinton, director Pedro Almodovar and Julianne Moore attend the premiere of their film, “The Room Next Door,” at the 2024 Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, on September 2, 2024. Photo by Rune Hellestad/UPI | License Photo

Netflix viewer spots ‘mistake’ in popular film as fans can’t believe they missed it

An eagle-eyed movie buff has caught a ‘mistake’ while watching a new Christmas film with his wife. The couple were watching Carry-On, a new Netflix thriller, when the husband spotted that two different babies were used to play the same character. The first scene shows a baby with brown hair before he is swapped for…

Netflix viewer spots ‘mistake’ in popular film as fans can’t believe they missed it

An eagle-eyed movie buff has caught a ‘mistake’ while watching a new Christmas film with his wife. The couple were watching Carry-On, a new Netflix thriller, when the husband spotted that two different babies were used to play the same character. The first scene shows a baby with brown hair before he is swapped for…