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.
A CDC advisory committee as unanimously voted to recommend the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine in children ages 5 to 11. Dr. Amesh Adalja, Infectious Disease Specialist and Senior Scholar at Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, joined Cheddar News to discuss.
On this episode of ChedHER: Author of 'JUMP: Dare to Do What Scares You in Business and Life,' breaks down the different types of career 'jumps' out there, and keys to making a career change a success; Head of Asian and Pacific Islander Affairs at JPMorgan Chase discusses how she's forging a path forward for the API community; CEO and Founder of Diversability explains how she's building up a global movement to rebrand disability through the power of community.
Cheddar sits down with Vivian Young, Head of Asian and Pacific Islander Affairs at JPMorgan Chase, at JPMorgan Chase's Women on the Move Leadership Day to discuss her experience being the first person to hold this type of position at the firm, and how she's forging a path forward for the API community.
Cheddar sits down with Tiffany Yu, CEO and Founder of Diversability, at JPMorgan Chase's Women on the Move Leadership Day to discuss how she's building up a global movement to rebrand disability through the power of community.
Kim Perell, Author of 'JUMP: Dare to Do What Scares You in Business and Life,' joins ChedHER to discuss the different types of career 'jumps' out there, and the keys to making a career change a success.
A Freitag pod with Carlo and Baker, talking about the upcoming federal vax-or-test deadline, the most shocking upset of this week's elections, an incredible story of selflessness and Love, Hate, Ate.
The largest car search platform in India, Cardekho, recently raised $250 million in what the company calls a pre-IPO round led by leapfrog investments. The funding bumps CarDekho above unicorn status with a $1.2 billion valuation. The company currently has a catalogue of more than 3,000 pre-owned cars for online purchases and hopes to expand with the new funding. Partner and co-head of South Asian investment for LeapFrog Stewart Langdon joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Actor Jade Wu joined Cheddar's "Between Bells" to discuss her role in the recently premiered film "Snakehead" and its depiction of organized crime in New York City's Chinatown. Wu also talked about the iconic place becoming its own character in the film and what it meant to shoot scenes on location. Discussing her career, she noted the significance of being part of a nearly all-Asian cast compared to often being the lone Asian actor on projects.
