Modern Beauty Trends: In: Selena, Dakota, and Emma Taking a Stand

Tuesday, January 2, 2018

In: Selena, Dakota, and Emma Taking a Stand | Out: Bad Vibes

2018 is finally here, and 300 Hollywood women started it off on the right foot.
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“The greatest discovery of all time is that a person can change his future by merely changing his attitude.”

– Oprah Winfrey

Hope

2017, Thankfully

Do you feel it? Maybe it hit you like an inner bomb of ebullience when the clock struck midnight. Maybe it’s still a little kernel in your gut. Whatever it’s from, hope is in for 2018. Hold on to it. Tend to it throughout the year. Don’t let it melt out before the year’s snow does. Not this year. There’s so much to do (not least of which includes midterm congressional elections) and so much to look forward to. A group of 300 women who work in the entertainment industry (including Selena Gomez, Dakota Johnson, Emma Stone, Natalie Portman, Eva Longoria, Shonda Rhimes, Ashley Judd, and America Ferrera) helped set the right tone for the year Monday morning by issuing an open letter to officially show solidarity with the Alianza Nacional de Campesinas (the National Farmworker Women’s Alliance) in an effort to end the systematic injustice and inequality women face in the workplace across all industries. The letter also announced the formation of the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund that will provide legal services to women and men who face sexual abuse, harassment, and assault in the workplace (you can donate here). The goal is to expand the attention on sexual harassment in the workplace beyond just the entertainment industry. “We fervently urge the media covering the disclosures by people in Hollywood to spend equal time on the myriad experiences of individuals working in less glamorized and valorized trades,” read the letter. The group also supports the movement to get all attendees, both women and men, to wear black to the Golden Globes in a show of support. It’s hopefully the start of a new wave of hope and activism that will burn through 2018. And yes, we can all find our way to show our support and take action while also tending to our own self-care goal resolutions as well (gotta wear more sunscreen and all that). It’s a new year. Anything is possible.

The Last Jedi, Still

Little Matt Damon

So much has happened since the last time we looked at the Hollywood box office, but one thing hasn’t changed: Star Wars: The Last Jedi is still the number one movie in the country. It finished its third weekend atop the box office with a little over $68 million over the four-day weekend and blew past the $1 billion mark worldwide in the process. It is also now the highest grossing picture of 2017 in just three weeks of release (so much for that backlash). Meanwhile, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle came close to the top spot in its second weekend with around $67 million, and is already well ahead of the $100 million the Robin Williams-starring original made back in 1995. Meanwhile, neither Pitch Perfect 3 nor circus musical The Greatest Showman is blowing up the box office (they’ve racked up $63 and $49 million, respectively, in their two weekends), but neither is shaping up to be a total flop. Unfortunately, you can’t say the same for Downsizing. The “Honey, I Shrunk Matt Damon” film is director Alexander Payne’s most expensive film to date and the first in his 21-year career to open directly in wide release. Despite that, it’s made just $17 million over two weekends.

Women in Hollywood

Old Dudes

Well, here’s a nice little factoid that ties the two previous items together: turns out that the three top movies of 2017 at the box office all starred women. As mentioned, The Last Jedi, which features Daisy Ridley’s Rey as our main protagonist, was number one with $533 million domestically (so far). The Emma Watson-starring Beauty and the Beast was second with a total take of $504 million, and Wonder Woman, whose female-fronted status is right there in the title, was third at $412 million (it also gets special notice not just for being 2017’s highest grossing film directed by a woman, Patty Jenkins, but the highest grossing female-directed live action film of all time). We should also note that Girls Trip was the year’s highest grossing traditional live action comedy as well. That feat likely won’t be repeated in 2018. After all, some of the year’s expected blockbusters are either male-fronted or dude-heavy ensembles (Avengers: Infinity War, Solo: A Star Wars Story, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Black Panther, and Deadpool 2, to name a few). But that’s okay, because if anything, 2017 proved that female-fronted movies actually can make mega-bucks, and there’s still hope for female-fronted blockbusters in 2018. Reese Witherspoon, Mindy Kaling, and Oprah team up for Disney’s A Wrinkle in Time; Ocean’s 8 already has us plenty excited; the X-Men spin-off The New Mutants features a female-dominated cast (not to mention that next year’s main X-Men movie, Dark Phoenix, is all about a female character as well); and we expect Disney’s The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, the Natalie Portman-fronted Annihilation, Mary Poppins Returns, and the Tomb Raider reboot to make major money moves as well.

Mindy Kaling

@MindyKaling

Mindy Kaling had a big 2017 that included the conclusion of The Mindy Project, the birth of her first child, and a part in Jay-Z’s star-studded "Family Feud" video (see more behind the scenes pics here). This year could be even bigger, with parts in both Ocean’s 8 and A Wrinkle in Time, she could wind up being one of Hollywood’s biggest box office stars of the year, and she’s created the upcoming NBC sitcom Champions as well.