International Insider: SAG Crosses The Picket; BBC In Crisis (Again); Spacey Speaks Up

Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer has been grabbing plenty of headlines and dollars this week but the BBC has turned the clocks back to a different retelling, making its classic series available on iPlayer.

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International The BBC’s “Oppenheimer” has finally landed on iPlayer. All seven episodes of the Sam Waterston-led drama series from 1980 is now available in full on the BBC streaming service. Until now, the BAFTA-winning and Emmy-nominated series was only available to rent or purchase on Prime Video.

International cinema chain Vue says it has recorded its “best ever week” in large part due to the Barbie and Oppenheimer releases ten days ago.

As expected, Warner Bros’ Barbie has now officially crossed the six-century mark globally with Friday’s figures included. The global cume is $637.5M through yesterday with the international box office repping $350.5M after a $30.1M Friday in 69 offshore markets. The Greta Gerwig-directed phenom should high-heel it past $700M through Sunday worldwide.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter “Barbenheimer” fever continues to sweep the box office. After five days of release, the inextricably linked “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” have reached notable theatrical milestones, with ticket sales for Greta Gerwig’s fantasia romp crossing $200 million and Christopher Nolan’s somber, three-hour biopic “Oppenheimer” surpassing $100 million. “Barbie” added another $26 million on Tuesday, bringing its North American tally to $214.1 million.

summer blockbuster “Oppenheimer” is surely not bombing at the box office, but there is one scene in the movie that isn’t hitting the right target.One moment in the three-hour film starring Cillian Murphy shows a historical error that viewers pointed out on Twitter.In the shot, the Irish actor, 47, stands in the middle of a crowd, who all clap and cheer for him while they wave American flags.The dramatic epic about the life of nuclear physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer takes place in the early 1940s, but the flags featured white stars that represent 50 states — despite the country only having 48 in 1945 when the scene took place.Hawaii and Alaska, the last two entities to be annexed to the United States, were not added until 1959.Eagle-eyed fan Andy Craig revealed the mistake on social media, sharing a snapshot of the scene, and his post quickly went viral.“It was good and all, but I’ll be that guy and complain they used 50-star flags in a scene set in 1945,” he tweeted.Other fans agreed with his discovery and even called out Nolan, 52, for the incorrect usage.“Totally ruined the film for me,” a person claimed.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter The battle of the bomb versus the bombshell has gone global. Over the weekend, Greta Gerwig’s very pink fantasy-comedy “Barbie” collected a stunning $182 million at the international box office, bringing its worldwide total to $337 million. Meanwhile, Christopher Nolan’s R-rated historical drama “Oppenheimer” held its own, igniting to $93.7 million from 78 markets for a huge global tally of $174 million. The two seemingly different blockbusters, which were jokingly pitted against each other, crushed already-stratospheric expectations thanks to the cultural phenomenon known as “Barbenheimer.” Hundreds of thousands of moviegoers booked a double feature for the ages, attending same-day viewings of “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer.”

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International Decades before Christopher Nolan set his sights on a movie about J. Robert Oppenheimer, a science-obsessed BBC executive ventured to America in 1979 to make a $1.5 million TV show about the father of the atom bomb. Peter Goodchild began his career at the BBC in radio drama, but eventually migrated to the storied “Horizon” science unit to put his chemistry degree to some use. The division began experimenting with factual dramas in the 1970s, and after delivering a hit series on French-Polish physicist Marie Curie, Goodchild set his sights on the New York-born Oppenheimer. “I’d seen a play on J. Robert Oppenheimer at the Hampstead Theatre Club way back in 1966,” the 83-year-old tells Variety from his home in Exeter, southwest England, where his Zoom background reveals a room teeming with books on heaving shelves.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent The double SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes are worrying exhibitors in France, where the box office is driven by Hollywood blockbusters. In an interview with French news channel BFM Business, Richard Patry, who presides over the National Federation of Cinemas, predicts “the strike might go on for a long time” because it’s aimed at streaming services. “Many U.S. films have already started to be delayed, and it worries us a lot for 2024,” Patry said. The dearth of U.S. releases during the pandemic hurt the French box office, which was down by about 30% in 2022. Even if French movies have a large market share domestically, U.S. blockbusters typically drive an upward trend. Case in point: the French B.O. finally recovered this year and has been up 33%, bolstered by a spike in anticipated American movies, which skyrocketed from 29 in 2022 to 51 in the first five months of 2023, according to Comscore France. 

Fran Drescher has come a long way since playing the “flashy girl from Flushing” on The Nanny.

Christopher Nolan is getting a big endorsement for Oppenheimer from Paul Schroeder who is praising his latest film.

The entertainment industry is heading for change as Hollywood actors join writers on the picket line.  

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” has already received a handful of strong first reactions, but now comes a huge claim from “Taxi Driver” writer and “The Card Counter” director Paul Schrader. The Oscar nominee attended the New York premiere of Nolan’s atom bomb epic and took to social media afterwards to hail it as “the best, most important film of this century.” “If you see one film in cinemas this year it should be ‘Oppenheimer,'” Schrader added in a Facebook post shared widely across social media. “I’m not a Nolan groupie but this one blows the door off the hinges.” “Oppenheimer,” based on the 2005 book “American Prometheus” by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin, tracks the creation of the atomic bomb during World War II through the eyes of theoretical physicist and Manhattan Project leader J. Robert Oppenheimer. Cillian Murphy stars in the lead role. The film also features Matt Damon as Manhattan Project director Gen. Leslie Groves Jr. and Robert Downey Jr. as Lewis Strauss, a founding commissioner of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh and Benny Safdie also star.

Hollywood strikes, including Kevin Bacon, Susan Sarandon, Awkwafina, Paul Dano and Olivia Wilde.The Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists’ (SAG-AFTRA) strike against Hollywood production houses was called recently after talks with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) collapsed last week.Actors are demanding increases in base pay and residuals. Also included in their demands are guarantees from studio and production companies about how AI will be used, including with their likeness, and that they will be compensated when any of their work is used to train AI.Additionally, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) has been on strike since early May with similar stipulations.

Robert Downey Jr. has called Oppenheimer “the best film I’ve ever been in” ahead of its release next week.The upcoming biopic stars Cillian Murphy as scientist and “father of the atomic bomb” J.

George Clooney is speaking out about the SAG-AFTRA strike.One day after the actors' union officially ratified their strike, with performers walking off sets and out of promotional events for their upcoming projects, Clooney issued a statement to ET, calling the strike a major turning point in the history of Hollywood.«This is an inflection point in our industry,» the actor and director said in his statement. «Actors and writers in large numbers have lost their ability to make a living.

Fran Drescher is speaking out in response to the controversy surrounding her recent trip to Italy and meetup with Kim Kardashian.

be joining Hollywood writers on the picket line beginning Friday, July 14.Negotiations between the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA), which represent the majority of actors in film and television, and major Hollywood studios, who are being represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), fell through after the Wednesday, July 12 deadline of 11:59 p.m. Pacific time passed without resolution.Actors will join writers on the picket line starting Friday morning. This will mark the first time the actors and writers will be striking at the same time since 1960.Fran Drescher, president of SAG-AFTRA, and Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, national executive director/chief negotiator, made the strike announcement at a Thursday press conference following a national board meeting to approve the work stoppage. Crabtree-Ireland said talks with the AMPTP left the union «with no choice» but to move forward with a strike.«It came with great sadness that we came to this crossroads.

, director Christopher Nolan revealed that the cast, including stars Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh and others, left the event to go «write their picket signs» as the SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) union decided to go on strike. «I have to acknowledge the work of our incredible cast,» Nolan said onstage, before he was interrupted by applause after mentioning names of several of the film's many, many stars, who walked the red carpet at the premiere but did not join the director inside the theater.Christopher Nolan says the cast of #Oppenheimer left the premiere to ‘go and write their pickets’ and join the strike pic.twitter.com/rc2SaSxcfk «Unfortunately, they're off to write their picket signs for what I believe to be an imminent strike by SAG, joining one of my guilds, the Writers Guild, in the struggle for fair wages for working members of the union,» continued Nolan, before receiving more applause from the crowd. During the event, Pugh took to Instagram to reflect on the film and thanked those for coming out to support the project. «One of the biggest prides of my career. Honouring the work of the MANY who made this movie tonight,» she wrote.

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International Matt Damon has revealed that the “Oppenheimer” cast talked about their strike strategy before hitting the movie’s red carpet premiere in London on Thursday. “We talked about it,” Damon told Variety on the carpet. “Look, if it’s called now, everyone’s going to walk obviously in solidarity … Once the strike is officially called, [we’re walking]. That’s why we moved this [red carpet] up because we know the second it’s called, we’re going home.” Damon added: “We gave the strike authorization. We voted 98% to 2% to do that because we know our leadership has our best interest at heart.”