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  • We have to chase them like beggars: Mehreen Jabbar

    We have to chase them like beggars: Mehreen Jabbar

    For those of you harbouring the impression that a career in the Pakistani television industry equates to a thriving bank account, director and producer Mehreen Jabar is here to burst that bubble.

    “Our drama industry has progressed a lot, and there has been a very high viewership,” conceded Mehreen during a virtual interview with Drama Pakistani. “But behind the scenes, there is a lot of compromise and this industry operates in a very unprofessional way. That is the sad part.”

    The New York-based Ek Jhooti Love Story director, who has accrued a rich catalogue of work over her three-decade career, lamented that actors and crew have a constant struggle extracting payments out of Pakistani production houses.

    “You know, in the US, they have many problems, but over there, payment schedules are kept. You know you will be paid,” she illustrated. “But in Pakistan, with every channel and production house (and yes, some are better than others), you have to chase them like beggars, asking when you will be paid.”

    Mehreen confirmed that this is not an issue limited to just actors. “Everyone faces this, from actors to the spot boy to the director,” maintained the filmmaker. “There is no system. You ask anyone, and you will get thousands of stories about payment issues.”

    The director noted that in this shambolic set-up, it is the behind-the-scenes crew members who pay the biggest price. “If you compare the salaries of our light men and crew (because you have to make things in a certain budget), what they are paid, it is very low,” rued Mehreen. “There is no union here, so no one can really fight for their rights – but they are the ones who work the hardest […] I don’t know how this cycle will ever break.”

    The director elaborated that owing to this frustrating state of affairs in the Pakistani entertainment industry, taking on a project in her country of origin has proved to be a largely unrewarding experience.

    “It’s very frustrating to be shooting in Pakistan sometimes. The smoothest in my experience has been either a short series, because those end in about 35 days, or if a brand is involved,” she mused. “Which is the sad thing, because our drama industry is the biggest industry media wise, since we have no films and our musicians are strugglings. So our TV industry has to find a way to make the behind the scenes environment better!”

    Mehreen, however, has limited hopes of a radical industry change. “I’ve been working for 30 years now, and sometimes I feel the issues I faced then still exist today. In fact maybe they are even worse!”

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  • Consequence of U.S. HIV Funding Cuts Are Showing, Threatening Years of Gains, Say Researchers

    Consequence of U.S. HIV Funding Cuts Are Showing, Threatening Years of Gains, Say Researchers

    Cuts in U.S. funding for HIV prevention programs are already having a notable effect that could result in an increasing number of HIV infections and deaths, unraveling decades of progress, according to research findings presented at a press conference today in advance of the International AIDS Society (IAS) meeting next week in Kigali, Rwanda.

    In Johannesburg, South Africa, after termination in February 2025 of a grant funded through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), HIV testing decreased by 8.5% during the first quarter of 2025 compared with the first quarter of 2024, according to findings presented by Khensani Chauke of the Gauteng Provincial Department of Health in Pretoria. Over the same time period, HIV diagnoses declined by 31% and initiation of antiretroviral therapy (ART) by 30%.

    In Mozambique, February 2024 to February 2025 comparisons showed a 25% reduction in ART initiation, from approximately 22,000 to 17,000, according to a news release summarizing research that is scheduled to be presented at the IAS meeting, known formally as the 13th IAS Conference on HIV Science. The same research showed that those being treated for AIDS, there was a 38% in reduction in tests of viral loads and similar decrease in test results received, according to the news release. The 2024-to-2025 decreases were larger among children: a 44% reduction in viral load testing and a 71% decrease in test results received.

    Anna Grimsrud, Ph.D., M.D., a technical adviser to IAS who spoke on behalf of the Mozambique study team at the press conference, said that modeling shows that if the current trends continue, new HIV infections will increase 15% in Mozambique by 2030 and deaths related to AIDS will climb by 10%.

    “These findings underscore that stability in funding is essential for maintaining HIV delivery gains,” Grimsrud said at the press conference. “Even short-term interruptions create measurable effects on service access and, ultimately, health outcomes.”

    Jack Stone, Ph.D., an associate professor at the University of Bristol, said that the foreign aid freeze and subsequent waiver have meant a pause in U.S. funding for preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for everybody in sub-Saharan Africa except pregnant and breastfeeding women. Stone said that PEPFAR funding had supported 90% of PrEP initiations. His research focused on what he termed “key groups” that are marginalized and are at heightened risk of acquiring HIV: men who have sex with men, female sex workers, transgender women, and people who inject drugs. According to Stone, at the end of last year, PEPFAR was providing PrEP to approximately 720,000 individuals who were not pregnant or breastfeeding in 28 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Of that number, 200,000 were from the key population groups he mentioned. Stone said his mathematical model shows that the removal of PEPFAR’s provision of PrEP over one year would result in 6,700 new HIV infections among those who would have been on PrEP were it not for the PEPFAR cuts. Factoring in secondary transmission, Stone said the model shows that a one-year pause of PEPFAR-based prep would result in 10,000 additional HIV infections over the next five years.

    Not just Africa

    Although the cutback in PEPFAR funding has mainly affected African countries and programs, the Trump administration’s shuttering of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has affected HIV treatment and prevention programs elsewhere. Meg Stevenson, M.S.P.H., a senior research data analyst at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, presented findings of a survey of HIV organizations in Latin America and the Caribbean that showed 21 of the 24 organizations that received U.S. funding, directly and indirectly, had had their funding suspended. On average, the U.S. funding had accounted for about half of the organizations’ funding. Stevenson said the loss of USAID funding to these organizations translated into a loss of HIV treatment and prevention services for 150,000 people.

    Beatriz Grinsztejn, the IAS president and a leading HIV/AIDS researcher in Brazil, began the press conference with observations about the paradoxical times in which the IAS meeting is taking place. “We are witnessing scientific breakthroughs that could transform prevention and treatment and even bring us closer to a cure,” she said. “On the other hand, these very advances are under threat from massive funding cuts that risk stalling clinical trials, slowing our progressand jeopardizing the progress we have fought so hard to achieve.”

    Funding cuts threaten to undermine the HIV infrastructure that has brought the world to a promising point in the HIV response, Grinsztejn said. “Millions of lives and decades of progress hang in the balance.”

    Zackie Achmat, a South African AIDS activist and a member of the Global HIV Treatment Coalition, spoke about the HIV epidemic being “so close, so close to being ended.”

    Achmat added, “And yet, today we sit with 20 million people in Africa on death row, placed there by an authoritarian regime, that of Donald Trump, the criminally convicted president of the United States.”

    Achmat said the debt service of African countries is more than double the amount that the U.S. gives in foreign aid, exclusive of the money it sends to Israel and Ukraine. He called on China, Brazil, India and Thailand to do more to support HIV prevention and treatment efforts on the continent.

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  • Instagram wrongly says some users breached child sex abuse rules

    Instagram wrongly says some users breached child sex abuse rules

    Graham Fraser

    Technology Reporter

    Getty Images The logos of Instagram and FacebookGetty Images

    Instagram users have told the BBC of the “extreme stress” of having their accounts banned after being wrongly accused by the platform of breaching its rules on child sexual exploitation.

    The BBC has been in touch with three people who were told by parent company Meta that their accounts were being permanently disabled, only to have them reinstated shortly after their cases were highlighted to journalists.

    “I’ve lost endless hours of sleep, felt isolated. It’s been horrible, not to mention having an accusation like that over my head,” one of the men told BBC News.

    Meta declined to comment.

    BBC News has been contacted by more than 100 people who claim to have been wrongly banned by Meta.

    Some talk of a loss of earnings after being locked out of their business pages, while others highlight the pain of no longer having access to years of pictures and memories. Many point to the impact it has had on their mental health.

    Over 27,000 people have signed a petition that accuses Meta’s moderation system, powered by artificial intelligence (AI), of falsely banning accounts and then having an appeal process that is unfit for purpose.

    Thousands of people are also in Reddit forums dedicated to the subject, and many users have posted on social media about being banned.

    Meta has previously acknowledged a problem with Facebook Groups but denied its platforms were more widely affected.

    ‘Outrageous and vile’

    The BBC has changed the names of the people in this piece to protect their identities.

    David, from Aberdeen in Scotland, was suspended from Instagram on 4 June. He was told he had not followed Meta’s community standards on child sexual exploitation, abuse and nudity.

    He appealed that day, and was then permanently disabled on Instagram and his associated Facebook and Facebook Messenger accounts.

    David found a Reddit thread, where many others were posting that they had also been wrongly banned over child sexual exploitation.

    “We have lost years of memories, in my case over 10 years of messages, photos and posts – due to a completely outrageous and vile accusation,” he told BBC News.

    He said Meta was “an embarrassment”, with AI-generated replies and templated responses to his questions. He still has no idea why his account was banned.

    “I’ve lost endless hours of sleep, extreme stress, felt isolated. It’s been horrible, not to mention having an accusation like that over my head.

    “Although you can speak to people on Reddit, it is hard to go and speak to a family member or a colleague. They probably don’t know the context that there is a ban wave going on.”

    The BBC raised David’s case to Meta on 3 July, as one of a number of people who claimed to have been wrongly banned over child sexual exploitation. Within hours, his account was reinstated.

    In a message sent to David, and seen by the BBC, the tech giant said: “We’re sorry that we’ve got this wrong, and that you weren’t able to use Instagram for a while. Sometimes, we need to take action to help keep our community safe.”

    “It is a massive weight off my shoulders,” said David.

    Faisal was banned from Instagram on 6 June over alleged child sexual exploitation and, like David, found his Facebook account suspended too.

    The student from London is embarking on a career in the creative arts, and was starting to earn money via commissions on his Instagram page when it was suspended. He appealed after feeling he had done nothing wrong, and then his account was then banned a few minutes later.

    He told BBC News: “I don’t know what to do and I’m really upset.

    “[Meta] falsely accuse me of a crime that I have never done, which also damages my mental state and health and it has put me into pure isolation throughout the past month.”

    His case was also raised with Meta by the BBC on 3 July. About five hours later, his accounts were reinstated. He received the exact same email as David, with the apology from Meta.

    He told BBC News he was “quite relieved” after hearing the news. “I am trying to limit my time on Instagram now.”

    Faisal said he remained upset over the incident, and is now worried the account ban might come up if any background checks are made on him.

    A third user Salim told BBC News that he also had accounts falsely banned for child sexual exploitation violations.

    He highlighted his case to journalists, stating that appeals are “largely ignored”, business accounts were being affected, and AI was “labelling ordinary people as criminal abusers”.

    Almost a week after he was banned, his Instagram and Facebook accounts were reinstated.

    What’s gone wrong?

    When asked by BBC News, Meta declined to comment on the cases of David, Faisal, and Salim, and did not answer questions about whether it had a problem with wrongly accusing users of child abuse offences.

    It seems in one part of the world, however, it has acknowledged there is a wider issue.

    The BBC has learned that the chair of the Science, ICT, Broadcasting, and Communications Committee at the National Assembly in South Korea, said last month that Meta had acknowledged the possibility of wrongful suspensions for people in her country.

    Dr Carolina Are, a blogger and researcher at Northumbria University into social media moderation, said it was hard to know what the root of the problem was because Meta was not being open about it.

    However, she suggested it could be due to recent changes to the wording of some its community guidelines and an ongoing lack of a workable appeal process.

    “Meta often don’t explain what it is that triggered the deletion. We are not privy to what went wrong with the algorithm,” she told BBC News.

    In a previous statement, Meta said: “We take action on accounts that violate our policies, and people can appeal if they think we’ve made a mistake.”

    Meta, in common with all big technology firms, have come under increased pressure in recent years from regulators and authorities to make their platforms safe spaces.

    Meta told the BBC it used a combination of people and technology to find and remove accounts that broke its rules, and was not aware of a spike in erroneous account suspension.

    Meta says its child sexual exploitation policy relates to children and “non-real depictions with a human likeness”, such as art, content generated by AI or fictional characters.

    Meta also told the BBC a few weeks ago it uses technology to identify potentially suspicious behaviours, such as adult accounts being reported by teen accounts, or adults repeatedly searching for “harmful” terms.

    Meta states that when it becomes aware of “apparent child exploitation”, it reports it to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) in the US. NCMEC told BBC News it makes all of those reports available to law enforcement around the world.

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  • Freak Slug Announces October Tour Dates in Auckland and Wellington

    TĀMAKI MAKAURAU AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND (Jul 9, 2025) – Manchester based musician Freak Slug – the project of Xenya Genovese – will be welcoming audiences in Pōneke Wellington and Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland into her dreamy indie-pop world this October. Freak Slug performs at San Fran on October 20th and The Tuning Fork on October 21st with her Big Candles tour.

    Tickets will be available to purchase by the General Public on Friday 11 July at 10:00am local time.

    My Live Nation members will also be able to secure tickets during the presale which commences Thursday 10th July from 10:00am local time. Fans can register for access at livenation.co.nz.

    The name ‘Freak Slug’ encapsulates Xenya’s artistic world perversely and perfectly. Known for following the beat of her own drum, Xenya’s releases under the name Freak Slug so far include debut 2020 EP Videos and its viral hit Radio (23 million streams and counting), and follow-up EPs I’m In Love (2022) and Viva La Vulva (2023). Having shown listeners her more “summery, happy sound”, she then delivered a more grungy-feel with debut album I Blow Out Big Candles, furthermore pushing the diversity of her sound.

    Hugely influenced by ‘90s cult heroes including Ride, Mazzy Star and Stephen Malkmus, Freak Slug is all about hitting a mood. Everything that fuels her creative output is raw, authentic, sometimes weird, but always totally true self-expression. I Blow Out Big Candles is a strong statement of all of this and more. Down there, picking through the curious mix of sounds and feelings, from nostalgic, ‘90s-influenced and dreamy as well as eccentric and experimental, lives Freak Slug. The 10-track project gives listeners a taste of what they will be in for at her Aotearoa shows, a journey of both soft soulfulness and sonic songwriting, all laid out on the table.  

    I Blow Out Big Candles is as fearless a record as Xenya herself and was met with features and reviews throughout some of the most prestigious radio and media platforms in the United Kingdom. With her 4 piece band, Freak Slug has performed at SXSW Austin – and was the most searched UK artist at the 2025 edition – alongside many other showcases and festivals. Earlier this year Freak Slug completed her Big Candles tour of the US, CA, UK and EU taking in 40 cities including sold out dates in LA, Chicago, Seattle, London, Paris and Amsterdam, she also has a busy summer of festivals festival with a headline slot on the alcove stage at Latitude. 

    FREAK SLUG
    BIG CANDLES TOUR
    NEW ZEALAND, OCTOBER 2025 

    San Fran, Wellington
    Monday, 20 October 
     
    Tuning Fork, Auckland
    Tuesday, 21 October 

    Live Nation Presale: Thursday, July 10th, 10am (local) 
    General Sale: Friday, July 11th, 10am (local) 
    For complete tour & ticket information, visit: livenation.co.nz 

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    FOLLOW FREAK SLUG 
    FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | YOUTUBE | TIKTOK | SPOTIFY 


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  • ‘Devil Wears Prada 2’ Cast Adds Lucy Liu, Justin Theroux, B.J. Novak

    ‘Devil Wears Prada 2’ Cast Adds Lucy Liu, Justin Theroux, B.J. Novak

    Can Lucy Liu, Justin Theroux, B.J. Novak and Pauline Chalamet spell Gabbana?

    Their fashion knowledge will be put to the test as the actors join the cast of “The Devil Wears Prada 2.” And they won’t be the only new faces around Runway magazine. Other newcomers to the call sheet include Broadway stars Helen J. Shen (“Maybe Happy Ending”) and Conrad Ricamora (“Oh, Mary!”), as well as comedian Caleb Hearon.

    Meanwhile, two recognizable characters, Tracie Thoms, who played Lily, the handbag-loving best friend of Anne Hathaway’s character, and Tibor Feldman, who portrayed Irv Ravitz, the chairman of Runway’s parent company Elias-Clark, will reprise their roles in the sequel.

    They will appear alongside the original film’s stars, Meryl Streep, Hathaway, Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci.

    Disney’s 20th Century Studios is backing the sequel, which is currently in production and set to open theatrically on May 1, 2026. Though plot details haven’t been confirmed, the story reportedly follows Runway’s terrifying editor-in-chief Miranda Priestly (Streep) as she navigates her career amid the decline of traditional magazine publishing. She faces off against Blunt’s character, her one-time assistant who is now a high-powered executive for a luxury group, with advertising dollars that Priestly desperately needs.

    David Frankel, who directed the 2006 film, and Aline Brosh McKenna, who penned the original screenplay, are returning for the sequel along with producer Karen Rosenfelt. Based on Lauren Weisberger’s novel, a roman à clef about working for Anna Wintour at Vogue, “The Devil Wears Prada” follows aspiring journalist Andy Sachs (Hathaway) who is hired as an assistant at a glossy fashion magazine but finds herself at the mercy of her demanding boss. The film was a critical and commercial success, earning $326 million worldwide and an Oscar nomination for Streep.

    Liu is best known for the “Charlie’s Angels” trilogy, “Kill Bill” and, more recently, “Set It Up” and Steven Soderbergh’s “Presence.” Theroux, who worked with Liu on 2003’s “Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle,” has since starred in “Miami Vice,” “The Girl on the Train” and “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.” Novak broke out as a writer and star on “The Office” and made his feature directorial debut with 2022’s “Vengeance.” Chalamet, the older sister of Timothée Chalamet, rose to fame in the HBO Max comedy series “The Sex Lives of College Girls.”

    Novak is repped by CAA and Johnson Shapiro Slewett & Kole. Thoms is repped by Schachter Entertainment and The Gersh Agency. Shen is repped by Artists & Representatives, Solstice Talent, and Sunshine Sachs Morgan & Lylis. Feldman is repped by Jamie Harris and Justin Busch at Clear Talent Group and Jodi Schoenbrun Carter 1022m Management. Ricamora is repped by Paradigm Talent Agency.

    That’s all.

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  • Earth may be trapped inside a giant void in space, say scientists

    Earth may be trapped inside a giant void in space, say scientists

    Earth and the rest of the Milky Way could be floating in a billion-light-year-wide cosmic void, according to new research.

    By looking at the echoes left by the ‘soundwaves’ of the Big Bang, a team of astronomers discovered that our corner of the Universe could be far emptier than we first thought.

    If true, the theory could answer one of the biggest problems in cosmology, known as the Hubble Tension – the fact that how fast our Universe is expanding changes depending on how you measure it.

    Astronomers have long battled with this issue. When they measure the expansion rate by looking at the distant Universe, it’s markedly slower than the value they get from examining our local corner of the cosmos.

    “A potential solution to this inconsistency is that our Galaxy is close to the centre of a large, local void,” said Dr Indranil Banik, from the University of Portsmouth, who shared the findings at the National Astronomy Meeting in Durham.

    This is because the regions around the void would have a higher density of galaxies, and their gravitational pull would slowly coax galaxies inside the void to the edge, slowly emptying the region over time.

    “As the void is emptying out, the velocity of objects away from us would be larger than if the void were not there,” said Banik. In other words, it would make the local Universe appear to be expanding faster than it actually is.

    To be responsible for the Hubble Tension, the void would need to be around one billion light-years wide, with a galaxy density 20 per cent lower than the Universe’s average.

    Life in the void

    The idea that we might be living in a void has been around for a while but determining whether it’s true or not has been difficult.

    For one, it’s very hard to tell the shape of something from within – imagine trying to work out the shape of a house when you’re stuck in a room inside it.

    Our current understanding of cosmology also suggests the Universe should be uniform over large scales, so shouldn’t have enormous holes lying around the place.

    Galaxies tend to cluster together, such as in the Perseus Cluster, with large voids in between. But on large scales, everything should even out – Credit: ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA, image processing by J.-C. Cuillandre (CEA Paris-Saclay), G. Anselmi

    Banik’s team, however, were able to find evidence of a local void by looking at baryon acoustic oscillations (BAOs). These are the fluctuations caused by the pressure waves created during the Big Bang that were frozen in time early in the Universe’s history.

    Over billions of years, these oscillations have grown, shaping the distribution of galaxies in the Universe around them. If the Galaxy were in the middle of a void, it would distort the pattern of BAOs near to us.

    The study looked at measurements taken over the last 20 years, and found they all supported the theory that we truly are living in a void.

    The true test will come from when people investigate how living in a void might affect other aspects of the Universe around us, but it could be that our corner of the Universe is a lot lonelier than we first thought.

    Read more

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  • Australian government ‘urgently seeking more detail’ after Trump flags 200% tariffs on foreign pharmaceuticals | Australian economy

    Australian government ‘urgently seeking more detail’ after Trump flags 200% tariffs on foreign pharmaceuticals | Australian economy

    Labor is making urgent representations to the White House about Donald Trump’s threat to impose 200% tariffs on drug imports to the US, an announcement Jim Chalmers says is very concerning for the Australian economy.

    The US president said on Wednesday that the punishing new border levies would come with a transition period that could last more at least a year, after sustained pressure from the US pharmaceutical industry over price controls on common drugs in countries like Australia.

    “We’ll be announcing something very soon on pharmaceuticals,” Trump said.

    “We’re going to give people about a year, year and a half to come in, and after that they’re gonna be tariffed if they have to bring the pharmaceuticals into the country at a very high rate, like 200%.”

    Trump, who this week delayed the lifting of a pause on his so-called “retaliatory tariffs” against more than 100 countries until 1 August, also announced a plan to hit copper imports into the US with a 50% tariff.

    Australia’s copper exports to the US are worth about $50m annually and make up less than 1% of total sales of the metal.

    But Australia exports about $2.5bn in pharmaceutical (mainly vaccines and blood products) as well as healthcare products to the US each year – a share of about 40% of medicines exports across the globe annually.

    Rare earths: how these critical minerals impact Australian industry and global politics – video

    This week Guardian Australia reported some of the most influential lobby groups in Washington were pushing the US to retaliate against Australia’s treatment of US exporters under the $18bn pharmaceutical benefits scheme, pointing to drug approvals and domestic manufacturing incentives as proof of unfair “freeloading”.

    The PBS keeps prices for nearly 1,000 commonly used medicines capped, with supply deals negotiated with drug companies to ensure access to life-saving drugs.

    The treasurer said the plan to impose tariffs on foreign pharmaceuticals and copper were “very concerning developments”.

    “Our pharmaceuticals industry is much more exposed to the US market, and that’s why we’re seeking, urgently seeking, some more detail on what’s been announced,” Chalmers told ABC radio.

    “But I want to make it really clear once again, as we have on a number of occasions before, our pharmaceutical benefits scheme is not something that [we are] willing to trade away.”

    Lobby groups including the US Chamber of Commerce and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America have told the US trade representative, Jamieson Greer, that the system is discriminatory and “socialised medicine”.

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    Chalmers said growing global trade tensions linked to Trump’s unpredictable and expanding tariff regime were a “substantial concern” to Australia.

    “It does pose a risk to the progress that the world has been making in our economies after Covid,” he said.

    “We’ve made it really clear on a number of occasions, these tariffs are bad for Australia. They’re bad for the US. They’re bad for the global economy.

    “These developments, they are sometimes unpredictable. There’s been an element of volatility and uncertainty injected into the global economy.”

    Trump this week sent letters of demand to 14 US trading partners, including Japan and South Korea, warning them of the 1 August deadline.

    Australia had not received a letter as of Wednesday, though Trump flagged then that additional letters would be sent in the next “short period of time”.

    “As per letters sent to various countries yesterday, in addition to letters that will be sent today, tomorrow, and for the next short period of time, TARIFFS WILL START BEING PAID ON AUGUST 1, 2025,” he said.

    “There has been no change to this date, and there will be no change. In other words, all money will be due and payable starting AUGUST 1, 2025 – No extensions will be granted. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

    The US commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, told CNBC he expected the copper tariffs to be put into place as soon as the end of July or sometime in early August.

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  • Why horror is slaying box office

    Why horror is slaying box office


    LOS ANGELES:

    Vampires, zombies and the Grim Reaper are killing it at the box office. At a time when superheroes, sequels and reboots have grown stale among audiences, horror has emerged as an unlikely saviour, entertainment industry veterans say.

    This year, scary films account for 17 per cent of the North American ticket purchases, up from 11 per cent in 2024 and 4 per cent a decade ago, according to Comscore data compiled exclusively for Reuters.

    Thanks to the box office performance of Sinners and Final Destination: Bloodlines, and new installments of popular horror films hitting later this year, including The Conjuring: Last Rites and Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, cinema owners have reason to celebrate.

    “We have identified horror as really one of the primary film genres that we are targeting to grow,” said Brandt Gully, owner of the Springs Cinema & Taphouse in Sandy Springs, Georgia. “It can really fill a void when you need it.”

    Producers, studio executives and theatre owners say horror has historically provided a safe outlet to cope with contemporary anxieties. And there is no lack of material to choose from: the aftershocks of a global pandemic, artificial intelligence paranoia, the loss of control over one’s body, and resurgent racism.

    “It’s cathartic, it’s emotional, and it comes with an ending,” said film data analyst Stephen Follows, author of the Horror Movie Report, which offers detailed insights into the genre. “Horror movies give space to process things that are harder to face in everyday life.”

    The often low-budget productions allow for greater risk-taking than would be possible with high-cost, high-stakes productions like Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning. The creative freedom has attracted such acclaimed directors as Ryan Coogler, Jordan Peele, Danny Boyle and Guillermo del Toro.

    “Horror movies are an accountant’s dream,” said Paul Dergarabedian, Comscore senior media analyst. “If you’re going to make a science-fiction outer-space extravaganza, you can’t do that on the cheap. With horror films, a modest-budget movie like Weapons can be scary as hell.”

    Audiences are responding. Coogler’s Sinners, an original story about Mississippi vampires starring Michael B Jordan, was the year’s third highest-grossing film in the US and Canada, according to Comscore.

    Movie theatres are still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic which broke the movie-going habit, and increased viewing in the home. Mike De Luca, co-chair and Warner Bros Motion Picture Group, which released Sinners, said horror was a genre that manages to get people out of the house.

    “It’s a rising tide that lifts all boats,” he said. “You know, we’re trying to get people back in the habit of going to the theatres.”

    Fear knows no geographical bounds. Half of all horror movies released by major US distributors last year made 50 per cent or more of their worldwide box office gross outside the US, according to London-based researcher Ampere Analysis. The breakout international hit The Substance, for example, grossed over USD77 million worldwide – with around 80 per cent of that from outside the US.

    Streamers also are similarly capitalising on the appeal of the genre. AMC’s post-apocalyptic horror drama series The Walking Dead, became one of the most popular series when it was added to Netflix in 2023, amassing 1.3 billion hours viewed, according to Netflix’s Engagement Report. Director Guillermo del Toro’s film adaptation of Mary Shelley’s gothic novel, Frankenstein, is set to debut in November.

    Date night

    Horror films are ideally suited to watching in movie theatres, where the environment heightens the experience.

    “What you can’t do at home is sit in a dark room with a hundred other people, not on your phone, and jump,” said Blumhouse CEO Jason Blum, producer of Halloween, Paranormal Activity and other lucrative horror franchises. “You can’t really be scared when you watch a horror movie at home.”

    Big-budget movies that the industry refers to as “tent poles,” such as Captain America: Brave New World or A Minecraft Movie, remain the lifeblood of movie theatres. Over time, these blockbusters have elbowed out more moderately budgeted romantic comedies and dramas on movie screens.

    Against this backdrop, horror has been quietly gaining momentum.

    The genre broke the USD1 billion box office barrier in the US and Canada for the first time in 2017, Comscore reported, buoyed by the film adaptation of Stephen King’s novel, It, and Jordan Peele’s exploration of racial inequality in Get Out.

    Announcements of new horror films from US producers have risen each year for the last three years, including in 2023, when the Hollywood strikes significantly impacted production, according to Ampere Analysis.

    The number of US horror films that went into production last year was up 21 per cent over 2023, Ampere found.

    “While more arthouse fare and even some tentpole superhero franchises have had mixed fortunes at the global box office in the wake of the pandemic, horror remains one of the key genres that audiences still make a point of seeing in the theatres,” wrote researcher Alice Thorpe in a report for Ampere’s clients which she shared with Reuters.

    The researcher’s own consumer surveys revealed horror is the favorite genre among two-thirds of film-goers, ages 18 to 24.

    “Anytime a teenager graduates to wanting to take a date to the movies, horror gets popular really fast,” said Warner Bros’ De Luca. “It’s a great film-going experience to take a date to because you get to huddle with each other and gasp and hoop and holler.”

    Freak show

    Horror has been a cinematic staple from its earliest days, when Thomas Edison filmed Frankenstein on his motion picture camera, the Kinetograph, in 1910. The British Board of Film Classification introduced the “H” rating in 1932, officially designating the genre. But it didn’t always get Hollywood’s respect.

    “In the first half of the 20th century, it was seen as a freak-show,” said Follows. Perceptions began to change with the critical and commercial success of films like Psycho, The Exorcist and The Shining. Director Steven Spielberg ushered in the summer blockbuster in 1975 with Jaws, a re-invention of the classic monster film.

    In recent years, horror films have become part of the Oscar conversation. Peele collected an Academy Award for best original screenplay in 2018 for Get Out. Demi Moore received her first Oscar nomination earlier this year for her portrayal of an ageing Hollywood star who will go to any lengths to stay beautiful in The Substance.

    Not every horror film connects with audiences. M3GAN 2.0, a sequel to the 2022 low-budget film about a killer robotic doll that grossed USD180 million worldwide, brought in a modest USD10.2 million in the US and Canada in its opening weekend, according to Comscore.

     

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  • Manuel Masalva of ‘Narcos: Mexico’ ‘reborn’ after 105 days in hospital

    Manuel Masalva of ‘Narcos: Mexico’ ‘reborn’ after 105 days in hospital

    Mexican actor Manuel Masalva is on the road to recovery after contracting an aggressive bacterial infection in March that left him in a medically induced coma for weeks.

    In his first social media post since the onset of his illness, the “Narcos: Mexico” actor updated his followers on his current health status via Instagram on Monday evening.

    “I am healing. I want to profoundly thank you all for the support you have given me and continue to give me, in every sense, every one of you,” Masalva wrote. “This [process] has barely begun, there is much more left to go, but I feel blessed, strong, reborn and well-accompanied. … God has given me a new life.”

    Masalva first felt the onset of an ailment when he arrived in Dubai in March, following a trip to the Philippines, revealing that he ended up spending 105 days in the Dubai hospital that first treated him for his prolonged illness.

    The actor first arrived in the Middle East city on March 18, his manager Jaime Jaramillo Espinosa told The Times in April.

    “[After] about two days in Dubai, Masalva began to feel internal discomfort and pain which increased by the day,” Jaramillo Espinosa said.

    On March 26, Masalva underwent emergency surgery after doctors discovered the bacterial infection, which prevented him from traveling back to his home in Mexico. The following day, the infection reached his lungs and he had to be put into a medically induced coma.

    Masalva thanked the Dubai hospital staff for their work and for the distinct culture that “overflowed with love and spirituality.”

    “I don’t know if I really understand all of what’s going on or just a part of it, it’s been an eternity and there are still some parts missing, I just want to the strongest thanks that I can give to God, my family, my doctors and all those people that have supported me since the start of this process. I owe you all my life,” he wrote.

    Masalva played the role of Ramón Arellano Félix in the Netflix drama series “Narcos: Mexico,” alongside Diego Luna, Bad Bunny and Scoot McNairy. He has also been featured on the telenovela “La Rosa de Guadalupe” and recently in the series “La Guzmán.”


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  • Increased prevalence of cardio-cerebrovascular risk factors during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown: a large, single center, cross-sectional study | BMC Medicine

    Increased prevalence of cardio-cerebrovascular risk factors during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown: a large, single center, cross-sectional study | BMC Medicine

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