Most game makers keep their expenditures secret; Call of Duty was recently reported to have cost over $700 million so far. But multiplayer space simulator Star Citizen publishes its figures, updated in real time, on its website. Currently it's approaching $800 million and may reach the billion-dollar mark next year. - The Guardian
"(Chuckles) ripple through the crowd when Nicole Kidman laps up milk from a saucer on her hands and knees in Babygirl, when Lily-Rose Depp contorts herself inhumanly in Nosferatu, when Mikey Madison is bound and gagged in Anora, when Daniel Craig is shooting heroin in Queer." - The New York Times
All of them seem to have collectively decided that the best way to convey the sense of epic event TV is with an overture of shape-shifting, literal-minded screen-saver art. - The New York Times
There will never be an end to manipulation by image. All we can do is understand its past in the hope of being able to read its future when it comes. - Hyperallergic
The Sun, one of Britain's downmarket tabloids, posted a story Tuesday night saying that, due to the Los Angeles fires, there's a contingency plan to cancel the Academy Awards ceremony on March 2. THR has spoken with key figures at the Academy, who say no such plan exists. - The Hollywood Reporter
In a time of streaming, the broadcaster’s prime-time share of 4.4 percent speaks to the end times of broadcast TV or the remarkable lack of interest in CBC prime time—or both. - The Walrus
While the public radio favorite, which turns 30 this year, remains one of the most popular weekly audio shows in both radio and podcast formats, it recently ended its ad sales deal with The New York Times (which purchased TAL spinoff Serial), and listenership appears to have fallen from 4 million to 3 million. - Semafor
For example, the director himself was already persona non grata and anyone involved with him would be in danger, so the film was cast without the actors knowing who was writing and directing, and Rasoulof could not be present on location. Here he talks about how he pulled it all off. - Vulture
Jonathan Haidt and Zach Rausch: "Our evidence comes mostly from research done by 14 (state) Attorneys General. … The briefs include hundreds of quotations from internal reports, memos, Slack conversations, and public statements in which executives and employees of TikTok ... discuss the harms that their company is causing to children." - After Babel
In Cape Cod, the founders of Transom audio training, the Public Radio Exchange (or PRX), and the Moth Radio Hour suddenly discovered that Boston’s GBH had sold their house out from under them. The community is not into it, but GBH (seemingly!) could not care less. - Nieman Lab
“As the film’s popularity grows in Brazil, more and more people are reckoning with the country’s brutal history, and seeing parallels with the far-right there today.” - Time Magazine
“The wildfires added anxiety to filmmakers, performers, crew members and others in the industry who have already been worried about Hollywood productions leaving Los Angeles.” - NPR
We won’t see the Academy’s official nominations until January 19 to give voters more time amid the fires in Los Angeles, but if it were up to The Observer’s critics, Nickel Boys, Anora, The Substance, and even Dev Patel’s Monkey Man would be top contenders. - The Observer (UK)
“The glitziest awards bodies have all overlooked Jean-Baptiste thus far—although, in a rare moment of unanimity, the New York Film Critics Circle, Los Angeles Film Critics Association, and the National Society of Film Critics all awarded top acting honors.” - Slate (MSN)
“It’s hard to think of a year more stocked with major female contenders than this one. At one point, it seemed like there were nearly a dozen plausible nominees for only five spots.” - Vulture
