‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ almost at $900 million gross globally

Dec 26 2022

James Cameron’s ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ has generated around $855 million in global ticket sales since its December 16th release date, making it the fifth highest grossing film released this year.

Domestically, the sequel to the 2009 hit ‘Avatar’ raked in an estimated $56 million during its second weekend in theatres. This is a 58% drop from its debut, with the culprit for the lower turnout assumed to be the winter weather and storms.

A decline in ticket sales is quite common for such blockbusters, with most experiencing a 50% to 70% downgrade. The metric is known as the second-week drop and is often used as an indicator of whether a film will have a longevity at the box office.

Films falling less than 50% are expected to have long runs whereas those which top 70% are likely to see ticket sales drop even more.

This means the Avatar sequel is in tranquil waters (pun intended) for the time being, with international ticket sales continue to thrive. In fact, apart from the $254 million domestic ticket sales, the film generated $601 million from international markets.

#MaltaDaily

Boxing Day traffic stand still en route to Gozo says PN MP

Boxing Day traffic stand still en route to Gozo says Delia

Dec 26 2022

Taking to social media, Nationalist Party MP Adrian Delia stated that he has been receiving information of a massive traffic standstill in Mellieha.

The politician said that some of the commuters have been in traffic for well over an hour as many of them attempt to make their way to Gozo on Boxing Day.

Delia issued a call to the relevant authorities to issue any important information about the situation so as to inform the public about the problem.

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TikTok reportedly admits to spying on journalist users in the US

Dec 26 2022

Popular social media app TikTok as admitted to spying on a group of its users from the United States following an internal investigation.

In a series of emails obtained by news portal Forbes, the platform’s parent company ByteDance was revealed to have been tracking the physical movements of various journalists as they used the app.

The platform reportedly gained unauthorised access to their IP addresses and user data.

The operation was to try and uncover the reporters’ sources from within TikTok after articles were published about the app’s influence on America and its Chinese links.

Among those spied on where journalists working for popular portals such as The Financial Times, BuzzFeed and Forbes.

It was also reported how the head of audit and risk control has since left the company ByteDance, with the four employees involved in the misconduct having been fired. TikTok’s head of internal audit Chris Lepitak was also fired, with general executive and chief executive Erich Andersen and Ruby Liang saying that they were deeply disappointed when notified about the situation.

#MaltaDaily

Seth Rogen loves telling kids Santa Claus doesn’t exist

Dec 26 2022

Whilst promoting a new show he created called Santa Inc., 40-year-old actor Seth Rogen revealed that he never got a Christmas and that he would tell kids Santa doesn’t exist.

He told a crowd in November that he is absolutely amazed by how much people love Christmas.

Rogen opened up about how he grew up in a Jewish household and even attended a Jewish elementary school. He went on to develop the pleasure along with his friends telling other kids that the big jolly man in red is not in fact real.

‘If you bring your kid near me, I will tell them there’s no Santa Claus’ he said. He said he’d even consider provide a myth-busting service for parents once their kids are old enough and ready for the truth.

Do you know someone who cannot help but tell kids Santa isn’t real?

#MaltaDaily