Articles written by Jake Coyle


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  • Pharrell as a Lego and Robbie Williams as a chimp? Music biopics get creative

    JAKE COYLE|Sep 11, 2024

    TORONTO (AP) — Many of the expected conventions of music biopics are present in "Piece by Piece," about the producer-turned-pop star Pharrell Williams, and "Better Man," about the British singer Robbie Williams. There's the young artist's urge to break through, fallow creative periods and regrettable chapters of fame-addled excess. But there are a few, little differences. In "Piece by Piece," Pharrell is a Lego. And in "Better Man," Williams is played by a CGI monkey. If the music biopic can sometimes feel a little stale in format, these two m...

  • AP picks 2024's best movies so far, from 'Furiosa' to 'Thelma,' 'I Saw the TV Glow' to 'Challengers'

    JAKE COYLE and LINDSEY BAHR|Jun 28, 2024

    The movie year, jumbled a bit by 2023's strikes, might feel like it's only just getting going. The box office is, finally, booming thanks to "Inside Out 2." But at the year's midway point, a lot of terrific movies have already come out – more, maybe, than you might realize. Not even counting some of the movies that had qualifying releases last year — two of our favorites were "La Chimera" and "Tótem" — 2024 has accumulated a wide range of standout movies big and small, with and without sandworms. Here are our favorites: "I Saw the TV Glow"...

  • Donald Sutherland, the towering actor whose career spanned 'M.A.S.H.' to 'Hunger Games,' dies at 88

    JAKE COYLE|Jun 21, 2024

    NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Sutherland, the Canadian actor whose wry, arrestingly off-kilter screen presence spanned more than half a century of films from "M.A.S.H." to "The Hunger Games," has died. He was 88. Sutherland died Thursday in Miami after a long illness, according to a statement from Creative Artists Agency, which represented him. Kiefer Sutherland said on X he believed his father was one of the most important actors in the history of film: "Never daunted by a role, good, bad or ugly. He loved what he did and did what he loved, and o...

  • Emma Stone won, but Lily Gladstone didn't lose

    JAKE COYLE|Mar 8, 2024

    LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Academy Awards were full of sure-things, long-awaited anointments and easy predictions. The "Oppenheimer" romp. Ryan Gosling's Ken stealing the show. That put even more focus on the category that was hardest to call: best actress. When Emma Stone was announced as the winner, a ceremony light on surprise got a genuine shock, perfectly illustrated by Stone's stunned expression. Stone's win, for her sensational performance in "Poor Things," was hard not to cast as a defeat for Lily Gladstone. The "Killers of the Flower M...

  • 'Wonka' ends the year No. 1 at the box office, 2023 sales reach $9 billion in post-pandemic best

    JAKE COYLE|Dec 31, 2023

    NEW YORK (AP) — Hollywood closed out an up and down 2023 with "Wonka" regaining No. 1 at the box office, strong sales for "The Color Purple" and an overall $9 billion in ticket sales that improved on 2022's grosses but fell about $2 billion shy of pre-pandemic norms. The New Year's weekend box office this year lacked a true blockbuster. (This time last year, "Avatar: The Way of Water" was inundating theaters.) Instead, a wide array of films – among them "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom," "The Boys in the Boat," "Migration," "Ferrari," "The Iro...

  • AP Breakthrough Entertainer: Lily Gladstone is standing on the cusp of history

    JAKE COYLE|Dec 15, 2023

    NEW YORK (AP) — Lily Gladstone is named after her great-grandmother. The elder Lily bore many similarities to Gladstone's character in Martin Scorsese's "Killers of the Flower Moon," Mollie Burkhart. Both women, born 10 years apart in the late 19th century, were traditional in nature, well-loved by their Native communities and devout Catholics. Growing up between Seattle and the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana, Gladstone was familiar with the stories of older generations of Native women — of their encounters with a fast-modernizing Ame...

  • Scorsese debuts 'Killers of the Flower Moon' in Cannes to thunderous applause

    JAKE COYLE|May 21, 2023

    CANNES, France (AP) — Martin Scorsese unveiled "Killers of the Flower Moon" at Cannes on Saturday, debuting a sweeping American epic about greed and exploitation on the bloody plains of an Osage Nation reservation in 1920s Oklahoma. Scorsese's latest — starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone and Robert De Niro — is one of his most ambitious. Adapting David Grann's nonfiction bestseller, it stretches nearly three and a half hours and cost Apple $200 million to make. Nothing has been more anticipated at this year's Cannes Film Festival than...

  • In Cannes, Scorsese and DiCaprio turn spotlight toward Osage Nation

    JAKE COYLE|May 21, 2023

    CANNES, France (AP) — It was well into the process of making "Killers of the Flower Moon" that Martin Scorsese realized it wasn't a detective story. Scorsese, actor Leonardo DiCaprio and screenwriter Eric Roth had many potential avenues in adapting David Grann's expansive nonfiction history, "Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI." The film that Scorsese and company premiered Saturday at the Cannes Film Festival, however, wasn't like the one they initially set out to make. The film, which will open in t...

  • 'Indiana Jones' swings into Cannes Film Festival; Harrison Ford honored before joyous festivalgoers

    JAKE COYLE|May 17, 2023

    CANNES, France (AP) — Indiana Jones and Harrison Ford swung into Cannes on Thursday for the world premiere of "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny" in one of the most anticipated events of the French Riviera festival. Fedoras abounded in the throngs of onlookers who watched Ford and company hit the red carpet. Ford walked hand in hand with his wife, Calista Flockhart, and later joined his cast mates as John Williams' score played across the red carpet. Among those in attendance were Disney chief Bob Iger, Lucasfilm's Kathleen Kennedy and f...

  • Hollywood writers begin strike, late-night shows go dark

    JAKE COYLE|May 3, 2023

    NEW YORK (AP) — The first Hollywood strike in 15 years began Tuesday as the economic pressures of the streaming era prompted unionized TV and film writers to picket for better pay outside major studios, a work stoppage that is leading most late-night shows to air reruns. "No contracts, no content!" sign-carrying members of the Writers Guild of America chanted outside the Manhattan building where NBCUniversal was touting its Peacock streaming service to advertisers. Some 11,500 film and television writers represented by the union put down t...

  • For once, Cherokee actor Wes Studi cast as romantic co-star

    JAKE COYLE|Jul 24, 2022

    n Wes Studi's potent and pioneering acting career, he has played vengeful warriors, dying prisoners and impassioned resistance leaders. For three decades, he has arrestingly crafted wide-ranging portraits of the Native American experience. But one thing he had never done in a movie is give someone a kiss. "I thought it was about time, yeah," Studi, 74, says chuckling. In "A Love Song," a tender indie drama starring another long-pigeonholed character actor, Dale Dickey, Studi is for the first time cast as a romantic co-star. Dickey ("Winter's...

  • Zelenskyy opens Cannes Film Festival, links war and cinema

    JAKE COYLE|May 18, 2022

    CANNES, France (AP) — The 75th Cannes Film Festival kicked off Tuesday with an eye turned to Russia's war in Ukraine and a live satellite video address from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who called on a new generation of filmmakers to confront dictators as Charlie Chaplin satirized Adolf Hitler. After tributes and musical numbers, Zelenskyy was streamed live for the formally attired audience who had gathered for the premiere of Michel Hazanavicius' zombie comedy "Final Cut." Zelenskyy, dressed in his signature olive green shirt, drew...

  • Academy condemns Will Smith's actions, launches review

    JAKE COYLE|Mar 27, 2022

    LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences on Monday condemned the actions of Will Smith during Sunday night's Oscars and launched an inquiry into his slapping of presenter Chris Rock. In a statement Monday, the film academy said: "The Academy condemns the actions of Mr. Smith at last night's show. We have officially started a formal review around the incident and will explore further action and consequences in accordance with our bylaws, standards of conduct and California law." The fallout from Smith's onstage a...

  • Q&A: Rita Moreno on finding self-worth and never giving up

    JAKE COYLE|Jun 16, 2021

    NEW YORK (AP) — Rita Moreno emigrated with her mother from Puerto Rico at age five. By six, she was dancing at Greenwich Village nightclubs. By 16, she was working full time. By 20, she was in "Singin' in the Rain." In the documentary "Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It," Norman Lear says: "I can't think of anyone I've ever met in the business who lived the American dream more than Rita Moreno." In the decades that followed, Moreno won a Tony, a Grammy, an Emmy and and Oscar, for "West Side Story." (Her entire acceptance s...

  • By split screen, Fey and Poehler kick off bicoastal Globes

    JAKE COYLE|Feb 28, 2021

    NEW YORK (AP) — With nominees appearing by remote video and hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler on different sides of the country, a very socially distanced 78th Golden Globe Awards trudged on in the midst of the pandemic and a storm of criticism. Fey took the stage at New York's Rainbow Room while Poehler remained at the Globes' usual home at the Beverly Hilton. In their opening remarks, they managed their typically well-timed back-and-forth despite being almost 3,000 miles from each other. “I always knew my career would end with me wandering aro...

  • Amanda Gorman, in a first, brings poetry to Super Bowl

    JAKE COYLE|Feb 7, 2021

    NEW YORK (AP) — Amanda Gorman, the 22-year-old poet who stirred America at the inauguration of President Joseph Biden last month, again commanded the spotlight on one of the country's biggest stages, the Super Bowl. Gorman read an original poem Sunday during the pregame festivities in Tampa, Florida. The poem, titled “Chorus of the Captains," was a tribute to three people for their contributions during the pandemic: educator Trimaine Davis, nurse manager Suzie Dorner and Marine veteran James Martin. Gorman didn't perform on the field but app...

  • 'Wonder Woman 1984' debuts with pandemic-best $16.7M

    JAKE COYLE|Dec 27, 2020

    NEW YORK (AP) — Despite premiering simultaneously by streaming service, "Wonder Woman 1984" managed the best box office debut of the pandemic, opening with $16.7 million over the Christmas weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday. That's only a faint glimmer of typical business during the holiday season, when cinemas are usually packed and box office receipts are among the best of the year. Last year, "Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker" exceeded $32 million on Christmas Day alone. According to data firm Comscore, 35% of all North American t...

  • Testing new release strategy, 'The Croods' opens to $14.2M

    JAKE COYLE|Nov 29, 2020

    NEW YORK (AP) — Testing a novel release strategy, Universal Pictures' animated sequel "The Croods: A New Age" had one of the best opening weekends of the pandemic, grossing $14.2 million over the five-day Thanksgiving holiday weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday. Whereas new releases have traditionally lasted around 90 days in theaters, Universal has mapped out a shorted theatrical window in deals with major chains AMC and Cinemark that gives the studio the option to move new releases to premium video-on-demand after just 17 days. "...

  • Greta Thunberg on 2 very surreal years of protest and fame

    JAKE COYLE|Nov 8, 2020

    NEW YORK (AP) — In the first days of Greta Thunberg's solitary sidewalk protest outside Swedish Parliament in August 2018, most walk right past her. Some pause and ask why she's not in school. But people steadily begin to take notice of the steadfast 16-year-old girl. Those humble beginnings of Thunberg's protest — the unlikely birth of a global movement — are seen in the opening minutes of the new documentary "I Am Greta." Since then, Thunberg has met world leaders, been vilified by others, and seen countless join her in an ever-growing resis...

  • Sunset falls on a historic season for the drive-in

    JAKE COYLE|Nov 1, 2020

    NEW YORK (AP) — Julia Wiggin was still shivering after running out to hang up the weekend's marquee — "Ghostbusters," "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" — at her Northfield Drive-in near Hinsdale, New Hampshire. "It's cold," Wiggin said on a bitter, wet morning. "It's definitely time we closed." After a historic season, winter is coming at the drive-in. Summer and early fall have seen their simple, old-fashioned lots transformed into a surprisingly elastic omnibus of pandemic-era gathering. It has hosted concerts and comedy shows, business conferences a...

  • Pandemic chases 'Wonder Woman 1984' to Dec. 25

    JAKE COYLE|Sep 13, 2020

    NEW YORK (AP) — Following the less-than-stellar theatrical debut of Christopher Nolan's "Tenet," Warner Bros. is delaying its next big release, "Wonder Woman 1984," to Christmas. The postponement Friday of the "Wonder Woman" sequel, which had been scheduled to hit theaters Oct. 2, comes on the heels of Hollywood's boldest attempt to lure moviegoers back to theaters during the pandemic. Warner Bros.' $200 million "Tenet" fared well in its international-first launch, but found ticket sales harder to come by in the United States. About 25% of U...

  • Launching in U.S. theaters, 'Tenet' tallies $20.2 million

    JAKE COYLE|Sep 6, 2020

    NEW YORK (AP) — In a litmus test for American moviegoing in the pandemic, Christopher Nolan's "Tenet" brought in an estimated $20.2 million through the holiday weekend in U.S. and Canadian theaters. The result could be greeted as either the rejuvenation of U.S. cinemas — more Americans went to the movies this weekend than they have in nearly six months — or a reflection of drastically lowered standards for Hollywood's top blockbusters given the circumstances. About 70% of U.S. movie theaters are currently open; those in the country's top marke...

  • Review: An animal-rights parable in 'The One and Only Ivan'

    Jake Coyle|Aug 19, 2020

    A sweet if sleepy adaptation of Katherine Applegate's 2012 children's book, Disney's "The One and Only Ivan" is a talking-animal film that takes the lives of its characters a lot more seriously than, say, "Beverly Hills Chihuahua." Directed by Thea Sharrock ("Me Before You") and scripted with characteristic sensitivity by Mike White ("School of Rock," "Enlightened"), the film initially seems like the expected stuff of snarky CGI animals. Ivan (Sam Rockwell) is a 400-pound silverback gorilla who lives in the corner of the Big Top Mall, a...

  • In an upside-down summer, 'Jaws,' 'E.T.' are hits again

    Jake Coyle|Jul 31, 2020

    NEW YORK (AP) — When historians look back on the top films at the box office in the summer of 2020, they may feel like they've slipped into a time warp, or maybe "Back to the Future." Over the second weekend in July, "Empire Strikes Back" — 40 years after it was first released — was again No. 1. "Ghostbusters" claimed the July 4th weekend, 36 years after opening. Over the June 19-21 weekend and 27 years after it last led the box office, "Jurassic Park" again ruled theaters. In a pandemic that has resurrected all kinds of vintage pasti...

  • AMC, Universal agree to shrink theatrical window to 17 days

    JAKE COYLE|Jul 29, 2020

    NEW YORK (AP) — In a sign of how the pandemic is remaking Hollywood traditions, AMC Theatres and Universal Studios on Tuesday announced an agreement to shorten the exclusive theatrical window to just 17 days for the studio's films. The standard window of theatrical exclusivity typically runs about 90 days. Up until now, the largest chains have steadfastly refused to screen films that don't give releases a lengthy and exclusive run in theaters before moving onto video-on-demand or streaming services. Studios, meanwhile, have increasingly s...

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