Hustlers earned Jennifer Lopez the best live-action opening of her career over the weekend, as the real-life stripper story beat expectations with a $33 million domestic debut. The film hit theaters just six days after it premiered to rave reviews at the Toronto International Film Festival, with audiences seeing eye-to-eye with the strong critical buzz coming out of TIFF.
The movie is based on a 2015 piece in The Cut called "The Hustlers at Scores" and follows a group of New York strippers who scammed their Wall Street clients in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. Lopez plays Ramona, a fictional version of the operation's real-life ringleader, who takes Destiny, a younger dancer played by Constance Wu (Crazy Rich Asians), under her wing.
Lopez plays a supporting role to Wu's lead, but her performance is already the most acclaimed acting role of her 30-year career in the spotlight. What started as breathlessly-tweeted hosannas from critics at TIFF, now looks to be building towards an all-but-guaranteed Best Supporting Actress nomination for Lopez at next year's Oscars, thanks to popular consensus, impressive ticket sales, and an Academy-friendly pre-packaged comeback narrative.
Despite the encouraging numbers, Hustlers was only the second biggest movie of the weekend, coming in behind It: Chapter Two which made $40 million in its second week at the box office. But it still opened almost $30 million ahead of another prestigious adaptation: The Goldfinch.
The big-screen take on the 2013 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel bombed in its debut, making just $2.6 million; good enough for the eighth spot on the weekend box-office rankings. Despite an A-list cast toplined by Nicole Kidman and Ansel Elgort, the movie failed to make a dent with audiences. A 25 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes probably did not help its theatrical performance, with the site's top critics using words like "lifeless," "mangled," and "dull" to describe the movie.
With most of the major festivals complete and Labor Day fading fast, this weekend marked the unofficial start to the Fall movie season, and dozens of other awards contenders are sure to follow from now until New Year's. But, we can already assume two clear takeaways about this year's race: Jennifer Lopez will compete for an Oscar in 2020. Nicole Kidman — probably not.
Digital medical care provider Pear Therapeutics rang the closing bell on the Nasdaq Friday and President and CEO Dr. Corey McCann, joined Cheddar to talk about how the company plans to grow the business of software-based therapeutics and how the first FDA authorized prescription digital therapeutics company will go about treating illnesses like insomnia and addiction. "These really are pieces of software. In many cases, they're apps and in the cases of our addiction products, these are based on something called cognitive behavioral therapy or CBT," he said. "These products change the patient's brain circuitry to help them be abstinent, to help them stay in treatment, and that's exactly what we see in randomized clinical trials and that's what we see in the real world." He also addressed the ongoing mental health crises brought on by the pandemic. **copy updated to remove IPO information as Pear Therapeutics went public in December**
James Tattersall, director of sales and marketing for Lake Nona Wave Hotel, talks about the hotel's initiatives to foster diversity and how these amenities champion inclusivity in the Orlando area.
Ben Armstrong, founder of Bitboy Crypto, joins Cheddar News to discuss Bitcoin's downward trend and what's next for crypto after protests in Kazakhstan cause crypto miners to shut down.
Jake Carbone, senior data analyst at InfluenceMap joins Cheddar News to talk about a new report by The Guardian and InfluenceMap that reveals how companies are creating fossil fuel ads designed to look like Google search results.
Desmond Howard, former NFL wide receiver and Modelo college football playoff ambassador, joins Cheddar News to talk about the Modelo sweepstakes honoring the 30th anniversary of his iconic punt return.
The highly transmissible omicron variant of COVID-19 has forced school districts nationwide to return to virtual instruction, but there remain concerns about the quality of education students are receiving online. Andy Bird, CEO of Pearson, an education publisher and assessment service provider, joined Cheddar's "Opening Bell" to talk about steps educators and parents can take to make the remote learning experience an easier one, noting that one of the biggest advantages teachers can have is flexibility. "You cannot take a rigid timetable that works in the analog world and replicate that in the digital world. You need to have flexibility. Asynchronous learning, I think, is a very important part," he told Cheddar.
On this episode of ChedHER: Chief Product Officer at Mathison breaks down how she's building tech to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace; Co-Founder and CEO of Carewell.com explains how her platform is easing the pressures that come with caregiving; Founder and CEO of Mentor Agility discusses what goals business owners should set in the new year.
Bianca Padilla, Co-Founder and CEO of Carewell.com, joins ChedHER to discuss how her platform is easing the pressures that come with caregiving, and how she's breaking barriers for women in venture capital.
Elizabeth Spenko, Chief Product Officer at Mathison, joins ChedHER to discuss how she's building tech to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace, and an outlook on DEI in 2022.
Julie Elledge, Founder and CEO of Mentor Agility, joins ChedHER to discuss what goals business owners should set in the new year, and what tools are out there for emerging entrepreneurs.
