'The Batman' Soars to $128.5M Opening

►The Bat and the Cat make bank. Everyone at WB and DC can take a nice, long victory lap as The Batman scored a whopping $128.5 million in its domestic box office debut to secure the second-best opening of the pandemic era behind 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home. Overseas, the $200 million tentpole opened to $120 million from 75 markets for a worldwide start of $248.5 million without Russia (scrapped) and China (opens March 14). 

THR's Pamela McClintock writes that The Batman's early performance is all the more impressive considering it runs nearly three hours on top of it being on the darker side. Nor was Reeves’ vision for the superhero a sure bet, but the huge success is a vindication for WB exec Toby Emmerich who hired the filmmaker and now has a rock solid franchise on his hands.

Among the raft of records, The Batman is Reeves’ biggest opening to date and is only the second picture since December 2019 to cross $100 million in its launch. The box office report. 

—Only if you've seen the movie! THR's Graeme McMillan decodes that surprise cameo in The Batman and writes that recent comics provide a guide to where an unlikely friendship may go. Warning spoilers! The story. 

—"Equal parts brilliant and terrifying." THR's Ryan Parker looks at how Matt Reeves' The Batman pays homage to several works from comics and films, but one particular real-world influence should be unsettling for those who know the history. Warning spoilers! The story. 

Spirit Awards 2022

►The night of first timers. The Lost Daughter was the big winner at Sunday's 37th annual Independent Spirit Awards. The film was named best feature, and Maggie Gyllenhaal won the awards for best screenplay and best director. Among the other winners were several first-time nominees: Taylour Paige for best female lead for Zola, Simon Rex for best male lead for Red Rocket, Troy Kotsur for best supporting male actor for CODA and Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson for best doc for Summer of Soul. The winners.

—"Fuck off and go home Putin." THR's Mia Galuppo recaps the 2022 Spirit Awards which returned to the beach in Santa Monica after last year’s show was moved online due the pandemic. The Lost Daughter and Reservation Dogs were the big winners with onscreen representation and the war in Ukraine fueling conversation and acceptance speeches. The recap. 

—9 things the TV cameras missed. THR's nicest man, and eagle-eyed awards show attendee, Chris Gardner was on hand to witness the giddy and memorable moments from the Spirit Awards that were not shown on the IFC telecast, from Taylour Paige's missing stilettos and Peter Sarsgaard's deejay interlude in the press room to a veteran producer's search for "shitty chardonnay." The moments. 

—Snubs and shut outs. Lauren Hadaway's The Novice and Lyle Mitchell Corbine Jr.'s Wild Indian went into the Spirit Awards up for five and four awards respectively but came away with nothing. Despite The Lost Daughter's dominance, there was no gong for Oscar-nominated best supporting actress Jessie Buckley. The snubs. 

—The history-making man continues to make history. CODA's Troy Kotsur, seemingly on the glide path to winning it all, made more history on Sunday by becoming the first deaf actor to win a Spirit Award. The story. 

7 Ukraine Filmmakers Report From the Front Lines of the War

►"The fact is that at all times Russia has used cultural and artistic achievements as a cover for its aggressive actions." Seven Ukraine filmmakers, all of whom have remained in the country amid the ongoing Russian invasion, have reached out to THR's Scott Roxborough to give their firsthand accounts of the front lines of the war and to call on the international community to take action to isolate Russia and the government of war criminal Vladimir Putin. 

The group includes feature film directors Maryna Er Gorbach (Klondike), Nariman Aliev (Homeward), Valentyn Vasyanovych (Atlantis), Antonio Lukich (My Thoughts are Silent) and Roman Bondarchuk (Volcano), documentarian Alina Gorlova (This Rain will Never Stop) and producer Darya Bassel, the industry head of Ukraine non-fiction event Docudays UA. The story. 

How Podcasts Have Become Hollywood's Go-to for Source Material

►"It is such a great way to test out material." From The Dropout to WeCrashed to Gaslit, podcasts are inspiring TV’s most talked-about series at the moment. THR's Mikey O'Connell goes behind the current trend and why podcasts are beating out books and magazine articles. The story. 

—Exodus continues. Netflix has halted service in Russia in the wake of the country’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine. The streamer's move continues a cultural blowback that has seen every major Hollywood studio pausing releasing films in Russia. Earlier this week, Netflix halted production on all upcoming Russian-language series. The company reportedly has fewer than 1 million subscribers in Russia, out of its total 222 million globally. The story.

—"What you have is a certain group of litigants on whatever side, who their attitude is, well, the people who likely seem negligent have enough money." Alec Baldwin has once again addressed the on-set tragedy that occurred during the production of Rust. In remarks made at the Boulder Film Festival, Baldwin briefly referenced the investigation and lawsuits surrounding the on-set shooting and the future of safety regulations. The story. 

—More strife. Dua Lipa is facing a second copyright lawsuit over her smash hit song “Levitating,” this time claiming she lifted material from a pair of decades-old disco tracks. Songwriters L. Russell Brown and Sandy Linzer accused Lipa of copying their 1979 song “Wiggle and Giggle All Night” and 1980 song “Don Diablo.” The story. 

—ICYMI. SNL's cold open took aim at Fox News' Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham as well as Donald Trump for their problematic recent love and praise of war criminal Vladimir Putin. Oscar Isaac hosted the episode, touching on being Latin in Hollywood during his monologue. The show also took shots at Netflix's Inventing Anna with Chloe Fineman imitating Julia Garner's voice. The recap.

Review: 'Turning Red'

►"Giddy panda-monium." THR's chief film critic David Rooney reviews Pixar's Turning Red. A plucky 13-year-old is torn between remaining a dutiful daughter and liberating her wild side when heightened emotions suddenly start transforming her into a giant red panda. The review.  

—"It feels like there’s this amazing change that’s happening." THR's man from London Alex Ritman spoke to Ali & Ava star BAFTA best actor nominee Adeel Akhtar on what his nod means and how he will use his new-found notoriety to make more films in the social realism genre. The interview. 

—The art directors have their say. Dune, Nightmare Alley and No Time to Die won Art Directors Guild (IATSE Local 800) Awards in the live-action feature categories during ADG’s 26th Excellence in Production Design Awards. The winners list.

—...and so do the camera operators. The Society of Camera Operators’ camera operator of the year in film award was presented Saturday to Mitch Dubin and “B” camera operator John “Buzz” Moyer for their work on Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story, lensed by Oscar nominee Janusz Kaminski. The winners list. 

—...and don't forget the editors. Pamela Martin’s editing of King Richard, and Myron Kerstein and Andrew Weisblum for Tick, Tick … Boom!, topped American Cinema Editors’ 72nd ACE Eddie Awards, winning the categories for dramatic feature and comedy feature, respectively. The winners list. 

In other news...

—Netflix: Movies and TV shows leaving in March

—Netflix’s new releases coming in March 2022

—Shirley Bassey, Emilia Jones to perform at BAFTA Awards

—Griffin Gaming Partners closes $750m venture fund

—Inside Los Angeles’ new Short Stories Hotel, across from The Grove

—The Aster Private Club and Hotel to open in Hollywood’s former Redbury Hotel

—WNBA star Brittney Griner remains in Russian police custody

What else we're reading...

—How Jerry Buss, Magic Johnson and the Showtime Lakers created the modern NBA [LAT]

—Lucas Shaw on Russia joining China as a place where Western media companies can no longer do business [Bloomberg]

—From Leonardo DiCaprio to Steven Seagal, a list of stars who snuggled up to Putin [Guardian]

—Unhindered by moral issues, Chinese tech firms are looking to jump into Russia after Western companies pullout [WSJ]

—Critic Amanda Hess on Hollywood's current obsession with dramas involving fallen entrepreneurs [NYT]

Today...  

...in 1973, Robert Altman unveiled his two-hour, R-rated noir The Long Goodbye in theaters. The United Artists film, an adaptation of the Raymond Chandler novel, was produced by Jerry Bick from a screenplay by Leigh Brackett and starred Elliott Gould as Philip Marlowe. The original review. 

Today's birthdays: Wanda Sykes (58), Bel Powley (30), Matthew Vaughn (51), Jenna Fischer (48),  Richard Lawson (75), Rachel Weisz (52), Peter Sarsgaard (51), Bryan Cranston (66), Donna Murphy (63), Tobias Menzies (48), Laura Prepon (42), Haley Lu Richardson (27), Sophie Skelton (28), Anupam Kher (67), Jay Duplass (49), Brandon T. Jackson (38), Andrew Haigh (49)