Celebrate Elf on its 20th anniversary! Elf is, maybe, the last great holiday movie, a contemporary film that instantly entered the canon of re-watchable holiday films alongside Christmas Vacation, Home Alone, White Christmas, and the intolerable ode to mediocrity and sameness that is It’s A Wonderful Life. Elf and Love Actually are the only post-2000 Christmas movies people care about? I think? It feels that way, anyway. (Popsugar)

 

Lupita Nyong’o wore fancy pajamas that looked extremely comfortable. Also, I love that shade of green. (Go Fug Yourself)

There’s a trailer for Inside Out 2, which has everyone talking about why Bill Hader, who voiced Fear, and Mindy Kaling, who voiced Disgust, in the first film aren’t returning for the sequel. It’s because Disney low-balled them, paying Amy Poehler (Joy) $5 million and offering them $100,000 each. Now, a lot of us would like to make that much for a few months of standing in an air-conditioned box repeating lines, but it always sucks to KNOW you’re undervalued by your employer. 

 

Of course, Amy Poehler is the star of Inside Out, but Kaling and Hader were very present in that ensemble. In the years since, though, they’ve both branched out and are writing/producing more of their own work, being bosses and the captains of their careers. They don’t have to work at anyone else’s leisure anymore. Why should they take peanuts for their time, which could be devoted to their own projects? Basically, Disney needed to make returning to Inside Out worth their time, and they didn’t. It’s really that simple. (Celebitchy)

Speaking of studio f-ckery! David Zaslav has shelved ANOTHER (completed!) film for a tax write-off. This time, the victim is Coyote vs Acme, a Roger Rabbit-style live-action/animation hybrid starring John Cena and produced by Warners’ own James Gunn (wonder how he feels about this?). The movie was apparently testing VERY well, and with a reported $70 million budget, would not have had a hard time making money for Warner Bros. Discovery. Instead, it will be an estimated $30 million tax write-off. Also, other studios were interested in buying it.

 
Brian Duffield's tweet 

Once again, I return to the theory that David Zaslav built his career on trash TV, and he resents being known as the King of Trash Mountain, and he is punishing the film industry at large for not respecting his garbage Discovery shows. OF COURSE, he’s anti-art, he’s anti-artist, and I must continue to ask—why would anyone choose to work with this guy? Interestingly and unrelated, I’m sure, but Tom Hanks’ new prestige project about World War II, Masters of the Air, is at Apple TV+. Hanks’ previous WWII prestige projects, Band of Brothers and The Pacific, were HBO productions. But Masters of the Air is at Apple TV+. Coincidence or conspiracy? (Deadline)