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This weekend also contains the biggest disappointment of 2022 as Disney’s “Lightyear” grossed $51 million, falling far short of its projected minimum $70 million opening. That led to the total take of $163 million, a bit under expectations, for a weekend with three major recent releases. For the second straight weekend, total grosses topped 2019’s equivalent — this one, by 20 percent. Combined with the past three weekends, our four-week rolling total now stands 3 percent above 2019 for the first time we’ve exceeded the prior period....

“It’s making me think about when I was getting fitted for my suit, at whatever tailor that Wes was using in New York, and they have me up on one of those boxes,” Luke Wilson said (via Entertainment Weekly). “It’s this beautiful camel-hair suit, and Wes kept raising the level of the cuffs, until they were getting too high for my taste. So when Wes would turn his head, I’d motion to the tailor like, ‘Hey, can we get those down a little bit?...

But the show must go on, and at Monday morning’s Oscar nominations announcement, which represented mostly indies and streamer fare, Rubin confirmed two Los Angeles locations for the upcoming April ceremony, the usual Dolby Theatre at Hollywood and Highland, and downtown’s historic Union Station. (New York locations were scouted, but no bookings have been confirmed.) This suggests that the three Oscar producers, Steven Soderbergh, Stacey Sher, and Jesse Collins, were paying attention to the Inauguration this past January, which took advantage of dramatic exterior locations....

Also announcing this week were the Indie Spirits, whose juries have moved away from foreshadowing the Oscars in recent years. Spirit contenders must come in under $22.5 million to be eligible. While the Spirits have moved up their Santa Monica tent show by three weeks to have more impact on the Oscar conversation, the most likely Oscar contenders to emerge among the Spirit nominees, which were dominated by A24 with 13 nominations, are Maggie Gyllenhaal’s “The Lost Daughter” (Netflix) and animated documentary and Danish Oscar submission “Flee....

Both streamers carry only the color version, perhaps because the monochrome cut just arrived in theaters. As for why Disney would make the counterintuitive move to share the film with a rival, that’s the fallout from the Disney acquisition of 20th Century Fox (which includes Searchlight). Studios usually contract with premium cable channels on theatrical releases; pre-Covid, these deals usually kicked in eight to nine months after they opened in theaters....

But director Friedkin is here to tell you that whatever “Exorcist” reboot or remake is in the cards, he has nothing to do with it. “There’s a rumor on IMDb that I’m involved with a new version of ‘The Exorcist,’” he tweeted this week. “This isn’t a rumor, it’s a flat-out lie. There’s not enough money or motivation in the world to get me to do this.” Indeed, Friedkin hasn’t been involved with any of the “Exorcist” spinoff films, which most recently included “Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist,” directed by Paul Schrader and released in 2005....

“In the Mood for Love — Day One” is an NFT short film that features “rare footage starring Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung as characters utterly different from the iconic lovers in the original film. This unique artwork celebrates the critical and wondrous moment when a creative idea is first conceived, while marking the first Asian film NFT ever to be offered in international auction houses.” The film is edited from never-before-seen footage shot on the first day of production of the original masterpiece, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival to critical acclaim in 2000....