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Chris Lee

Movies Reporter
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Chris Lee is a Vulture senior reporter who covers Hollywood and the business side of showbiz.

  1. story behind the script
    Air Exists Because One Underemployed Guy in His 20s Saw The Last DanceAlex Convery had zero TV or movie credits when he saw three key minutes of the 2020 Michael Jordan docuseries and thought, Man, this is a movie.
  2. cinemacon 2023
    Nolan Says Oppenheimer Is About ‘the Most Important Person Who Ever Lived’Christopher Nolan previewed footage from his latest at CinemaCon, featuring Matt Damon in a mustache and Robert Downey Jr. talking about spies.
  3. cinemacon 2023
    The New Indiana Jones 5 Footage Would Make Marion Ravenwood ProudA Dial of Destiny scene shown at CinemaCon provides a deliberate, dopamine-inducing echo of the Cairo chase sequence from Raiders of the Lost Ark.
  4. cinemacon 2023
    The Flash Gets Praise (and Backhanded Compliments) After First Screening“Audiences want nostalgia, and they want feel-good. Execution is less important,” said an executive from a competing studio.
  5. cinemacon 2023
    This Barbie Gets Arrested and Goes to Jail in New CinemaCon FootageGreta Gerwig and the Barbie cast introduced new details and clips from the upcoming film.
  6. anyone but you
    Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney Flirt in Front of CinemaConDay one of CinemaCon brought banter from the Anyone But You stars and bloodshed in the first footage from Kraven and Ridley Scott’s Napoleon.
  7. at the box office
    The Super Mario Bros. Movie Is-a Going to-a Make a Billion Dollars-a2023’s most lucrative domestic opening is already the biggest video-game adaptation of all time, and it’s only going to make even more money.
  8. backstories
    ‘This Was The Fast & the Furious — But One of the Cars Is a Bear’Cocaine Bear director Elizabeth Banks breaks down the “scientific precision” of that mostly improvised ambulance chase.
  9. exit interview
    ‘We’re Going to Do the Biggest Stair Fall You’ve Ever Seen’Chad Stahelski on hurling Keanu Reeves into the gnarliest pratfall imaginable, why Scott Adkins appears in a fat suit, and whether this is good-bye.
  10. oscars 2023
    Everything Everywhere All at Once Didn’t Just Win the Oscars, It Dominated ThemInside the Academy Awards after-party, the industry took stock of the A24 movie’s historic trophy sweep.
  11. anonymous in hollywood
    ‘Honestly, I Equate It to Human Greed’Three VFX workers break down why Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania looks the way it does.
  12. the industry
    How Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey Trolled Its Way to Box-Office Success“There was a petition against us. There were death threats. People were trying to call the police on us at one point.”
  13. sundance 2023
    Sundance’s Year of Existential Crisis Yielded Back-to-Back MegadealsInsiders call this year’s Sundance a return to form, with several all-night bidding wars and multiple eight-figure deals.
  14. sundance 2023
    Netflix Draws First Blood at Sundance With a Deal for Run Rabbit RunFor some Hollywood watchers, whom Run Rabbit Run sold to and when carries unmistakable symbolic import.
  15. sundance 2023
    Sundance’s Identity Crisis Might Be a Good Thing for HollywoodInsiders call it a crucial year for the festival. But with streamers’ tightening budgets and a looming writers strike, no one’s sure how it’ll go.
  16. sundance 2023
    22 Movies We Can’t Wait to See at Sundance 2023From Cat Person (starring Cousin Greg) to the new Nicole Holofcener to an Ottessa Moshfegh–Anne Hathaway collaboration and more.
  17. the industry
    Inside the VFX Union Brewing in HollywoodVisual-effects technicians have never been more vital to movies and TV. Can studios like Marvel accept that?
  18. out of the uncanny valley
    Why Does Avatar: The Way of Water Look Like That?A tour of the VFX tech that pushes the look of James Cameron’s Avatar sequel — shot at 48 fps, twice the industry standard — into a deeper ocean.
  19. what’s next?
    With Wonder Woman 3 Canceled, the DC Extended Universe Could Be Very DifferentHere is a character-by-character breakdown of what could happen to the DCEU.
  20. season’s beatings
    Violent Night Was an Idea ‘Just Stupid Enough’ to ExistThe guys behind the R-rated holiday shoot-’em-up still sound incredulous — not only that it overperformed but that it reached the screen at all.
  21. delectable
    Hollywood Couldn’t Risk Making a Movie Like Bones and AllLuca Guadagnino knew Hollywood didn’t have the requisite taste for flesh. So to finance his first American-set movie, he turned to an Italian backer.
  22. at the box office
    Wakanda Forever Closes Out Marvel’s Phase 4 With a Record November OpeningIt provided a much-needed boost to reeling multiplexes that have been starved of big-budget event titles since summer.
  23. sleeper hit
    No One in Hollywood Wanted to Make BarbarianThe horror hit’s journey to No. 1 packed in the twists: “I had a movie, I lost the movie, I rescued the movie, then I lost the movie again.”
  24. darling we’re worried
    Don’t Worry, Darling, It’s Judgment DayWill all the rubbernecking directed at 2022’s hottest movie mess translate into ticket sales?
  25. light and pain
    Channeling David Bowie’s Light into Moonage DaydreamA near-death experience turned Bowie’s musings on art, alienation and existence into a “resurrection” for director Brett Morgen.
  26. silver linings
    The Summer of Almost No FlopsUnlike just about every other summer on record, nearly every major release delivered profits at the box office.
  27. batgirl
    Everything We Know About the Future of Warner Bros. DiscoveryHBO Max and the DC Extended Universe are in for some serious revamping.
  28. i love my dad
    So You Accidentally Fell in Love With Your Own Dad Catfishing You OnlinePatton Oswalt and James Morosini tell us how they turned a mortifying real-life episode into summer’s cringiest comedy.
  29. anonymous in hollywood
    I’m a VFX Artist, and I’m Tired of Getting ‘Pixel-F–ked’ by MarvelWhat’s it like to work as a visual-effects artist for the MCU? “I’ve had co-workers sit next to me, break down, and start crying.”
  30. san diego comic con 2022
    The 5 Biggest Storylines to Follow at This Year’s San Diego Comic-ConSeveral major Hollywood studios that sat out the convention even before the mask era (including Marvel) are headed back down Highway 5 to San Diego.
  31. the industry
    Sony Pictures Is Eating Hollywood’s LunchThe Spider-Man studio never launched a streaming service, but it’s breaking box-office records and earning the envy of back-lot competition anyway.
  32. the mighty thor
    How Natalie Portman Returned to Thor After a ‘Furious’ Grudge Against MarvelThe biggest shock of Thor: Love and Thunder isn’t that Portman turns up as Thor — it’s that the Academy Award winner returned to the role at all.
  33. box office
    Top Gun: Maverick Has One More Record to BreakIt’s coming for the big boat movie.
  34. lightyear
    Pixar’s Lightyear GambitThe Toy Story spinoff got to blast off in theaters after Turning Red went to Disney+. Will the franchise play pay off?
  35. at the box office
    Record Opening Turns Top Gun: Maverick into 2022’s First Instant Blockbuster“Audiences have been starved for a big movie to root for and to go see that isn’t a Marvel or DC movie.”
  36. summer preview
    What Will Be the Biggest Movie of the Summer?Vulture bets on five films that will break through the hottest months of 2022, in whatever ways they can.
  37. cinemacon
    Top Gun: Maverick Is Making Grown Men Cry at CinemaConMany in the audience at CinemaCon found themselves surprisingly emotional at the continuing adventures of moviedom’s most iconic aviator.
  38. let’s do it again
    Creed II’s Director Almost Passed on Directing the FilmDespite having made just one previous film, Steven Caple Jr. initially felt “uncomfortable” with directing the highly anticipated Rocky spinoff sequel
  39. backstories
    Rewriting the Behind-the-Scenes Story of Iron Man 2The sequel was made before the MCU streamlined its operations, when ad-libbing, “writing gyrations,” and Elon Musk cameos were okay.
  40. cinemacon
    Jordan Peele Hopes to Scare You Into Saying Nope Out Loud“I’m going to personally thrive on the number of times we hear the word ‘nope’ in the theater.”
  41. let’s do it again
    Praise Eywa, James Cameron Finally Debuted Footage from Avatar: The Way of WaterThe first glimpse at our return to Pandora played to cheers and applause from a mesmerized CinemaCon audience.
  42. cinemacon
    Bad Bunny Tries to Kill Brad Pitt in a Sneak Peek at Bullet Train“You tried to stab me?! I don’t even know you!”
  43. influences
    The Everything Bagel of Influences Behind Everything Everywhere All at Once“We’re very confident about our dumb ideas.”
  44. the industry
    Hollywood Has No Idea What to Do With the Erotic ThrillerThe industry is still nervous about sex on big screens, leaving streamers to struggle to reboot a genre that died too young.
  45. oscar villains
    Against Every 2022 Oscars MovieIf you’re still not sure what to root for this year, at least you can come up with something to root against.
  46. dystopia
    MoviePass 2.0 Wants (to Sell) Your AttentionThe plan was to use eyeball-tracking tech to mount a rival, but Stacy Spikes opted to raise the dead instead.
  47. fuhgeddaboudit
    Remember How Uncharted Was Almost a David O. Russell Movie?Back in 2010, the director wanted Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci to co-star: “Although he didn’t say it — he’s like, ‘I want to do a mob movie.’”
  48. ‘that’s just kanye’
    Why the Jeen-Yuhs Directors Turned the Camera Off During a Kanye ‘Rant’Clarence “Coodie” Simmons Jr. and Chike Ozah say they chose “brotherhood over filmmaking” during an otherwise revealing moment.
  49. at the box office
    Jackass Forever Donkey-Kicked Moonfall, But They Didn’t Need to Compete“There was plenty of time to move one of these films,” says a box-office analyst, who warns now is not the time for showdowns like this.
  50. let’s talk about it
    Lin-Manuel Miranda Breaks Down Encanto’s No. 1 Hit ‘We Don’t Talk About Bruno’On what went into writing the Billboard chart topper and what he hopes you’ll notice about Bruno himself on your second and third viewings.
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