Lifestyle
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Meet the YouTubers remaking Hollywood, one Gen Z box-office smash at a time
Some of the most promising young filmmakers in the movie business are arriving in Hollywood already experts at entertaining audiences and going viral. The twin sensations of “Obsession” and “Backrooms” — both by 20-something YouTubers-turned-filmmakers — has put a new spotlight on an increasingly well-trod path to the director’s chair. Hollywood executives are scouring platforms…
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Exclusive: Universal beat Disney as Hollywood’s maker of the most expensive movie of all time
NBCUniversal has taken Disney’s title of making the most expensive movie of all time, according to analysis of recently filed financial statements. The filings show that Universal Pictures spent $658.8 million making the 2022 action-adventure pic “Jurassic World: Dominion,” surpassing the previous record-holder, Disney’s 2015 “Star Wars” reboot “The Force Awakens” which cost $638.9 million.…
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Infant mortality in the U.S. fell to an all-time low in 2025 thanks to antibody shots and RSV vaccines
Infant mortality in the U.S. dropped to a new all-time low in 2025, according to preliminary government data. There were slightly fewer than 5.4 infant deaths per 1,000 live births in 2025, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While that appears to be a small decline from about 5.5 in 2024 and…
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Steven Spielberg takes top spot in box office with ‘Disclosure Day’ performing as expected
Steven Spielberg’s “Disclosure Day,” billed as his first popcorn movie in years, launched with $44 million in domestic theaters, according to studio estimates Sunday. “Disclosure Day” opened largely as expected, collecting $92.9 million worldwide over its first weekend. That was good enough to give the 79-year-old Spielberg, who conceived the film’s story, his best opening weekend…
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Basketball vs. the Beautiful Game: the fight for America’s summer sports attention
For one extraordinary week in June, American sports fans faced a choice no previous generation had confronted at this scale: the New York Knicks chasing their first NBA championship in 53 years, or the U.S. men’s national soccer team playing its opening World Cup match on home soil. Both events delivered historic numbers. Both are…
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Gene Shalit, who made film criticism a television institution, dies at 100
Gene Shalit, a movie critic and arts reporter for the “Today” show over four decades who was known for his puffy hair, oversized handlebar mustache and affection for groan-inducing puns, has died. He was 100. Shalit’s family announced the death Friday to NBC News, saying in a statement that he “passed away peacefully today after…
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Middle-aged adults taking GLP-1s for obesity can save over $192K on lifetime medical costs, higher if they don’t have college degrees, new study finds
Over 40 million Americans have reported using GLP-1 drugs for weight loss, a behavior reshaping everything from the healthcare industry to pop culture and consumer behavior—and the drugs’ use could balloon into as much as a $240 billion market. While these weight-loss drugs pumped billions into pharma giants Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk as social…
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Meet the lone star tick: the primary U.S. source of alpha-gal syndrome, which is a life-threatening meat allergy that’s on the rise
It’s common knowledge that ticks can spread infections that cause serious illnesses, including Lyme disease. Now health officials are trying to raise awareness of a lesser-known problem: a life-threatening allergy to meat triggered by tick bites. The problem, known as alpha-gal syndrome, was first linked to a particular species of ticks about 15 years ago.…
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You probably think you’re a really open-minded person, but the real thing raises your death anxiety
Most people think they are open-minded and would like others to perceive them as such. But for the things that matter most – religious beliefs, for example, or the meaning of life – few of us are genuinely willing to consider that we might be wrong, let alone do the hard work of revising beliefs.…
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Aliens are so mainstream the Catholic Church just fired an exorcist for saying UFOs are demons
In “Disclosure Day,” out Friday, Steven Spielberg is once again inviting audiences to ponder the existence of extraterrestrial life — and the implications it would have for religion on Earth. But Spielberg is hardly the only one making headlines of late about UFOs and the possibility of life on other planets. What was once considered…