Neural Newscast

From Neural Newscast, I'm Thomas Keene. And I'm Vanessa Calderon. The ping pong drama Marty Supreme is now the highest-grossing domestic film in history for the studio A24. This sports dramedy earned $80 million in North America to pass the record previously held by everything everywhere all at once. It is a massive win for Josh Softie and his most expensive production to date. Timothy Shalame really carried the hype for this one through a legendary press tour and some serious award season buzz. Thank you. Chalamey recently won Best Actor Honors at the Golden Globes and the Critics' Choice Awards. While the film is only in select international territories now, its $97 million global total is climbing steadily. The box office overall is staying pretty crowded even as we enter the late January slump. James Cameron is still sitting on the throne because Avatar Fire and Ash just passed $1.3 billion. globally. In other news, Zootopia 2 has officially claimed the title of the highest-grossing animated film of all time. It reached $1.7 billion this week to surpass the record previously set by Inside Out 2. Disney is basically just competing with itself at this point for the animation crown. I should also mention The Housemaid because Sidney Sweeney is helping that thriller punch way above its weight class with over 200 million worldwide. Still, the long holiday weekend was not a victory for every major studio release. The horror sequel 28 Years Later, Bone Temple, stumbled with a $15 million debut which missed early industry projections. Critics actually loved the movie, but Sony might have released it too quickly after the previous installment. Seven months is a very fast turnaround for a major theatrical franchise, and it seems like the audience was not ready to return. Turning now to South America, Chilean President Gabriel Boric has declared a state of catastrophe in two southern regions following deadly wildfires. The fires have already claimed 18 lives and forced 50,000 people to evacuate their homes. The situation is looking incredibly intense in the Nublai and BioBio regions now. Local media are showing images of charred cars and destroyed neighborhoods that look like something straight out of a post-apocalyptic film. Emergency officials state that the most dangerous blazes are currently moving through dry forests bordering the coastal city of Concepcion. At least 250 homes are gone and dozens of fires remain uncontained. President Borick is warning the public that the death toll will likely rise as rescue teams finally enter the hardest hit areas. It is a devastating start to the year for the people in those southern communities. Next, we are watching the weather patterns in the region to see if high winds will continue to hamper firefighting efforts. We will continue to follow both the recovery efforts and the legislative response from the capital in Santiago. I'm Thomas Keene. And I'm Vanessa Calderone. Neural Newscast is AI-assisted, human-reviewed. View our AI transparency policy at neuralnewscast.com.