sequel

An incredible double bill of musical classics is available to watch for free this weekend

Film4 is airing a stunning double billing of hit movies that musical fans won’t want to miss. On TV from 4:45pm today (Saturday, 29th November), the original hit 1990s film will be immediately followed by its sequel at 6:50pm.

After that, both films will be available to stream for free on Channel 4 for a limited time. The toe-tapping cinematic treats in question are 1992’s classic nun on the run comedy Sister Act, starring Whoopi Goldberg as lounge singer Deloris, who is forced to hide out in a convent when her gangster boyfriend turns on her.

Fans of the original will be delighted to see that the sequel, Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit, which some consider to be even better, will also be airing straight afterwards.

This time, Deloris reunites with her nun friends, portrayed by legends such as Downton Abbey and Harry Potter’s Maggie Smith, Kathy Najimy and Wendy Makkena, to help save their struggling school with a stirring performance from their students.

R&B legend Lauryn Hill makes her film debut in the underrated sequel, which had one IMDb user claiming: “Not often is the sequel better than the original but Sister Act 2 breaks that stereotype.

“The music, acting, singing are all incredible. My favorite movie of all time and Whoopi once again showed up and showed out.”

Another wrote: “I loved this so much, even better than the first movie. So much talent and energy with a great story line.

“Once again, Goldberg delivers. This is a movie I could watch every year, so glad it is on every Christmas!”

As for the original? Movie buffs certainly agree it holds up more than 30 years later. One user said in a 10/10 review: “I feel that this movie should be a classic someday. The music is outstanding. I love the way that Whoopi sings. She has a fantastic voice for the movie.

“This movie is timeless and priceless. It is one of Whoopi’s finest movies.” Praise continued on Letterboxd where someone said: “I’m not ashamed to admit I was almost brought to tears at the end there…seeing Maggie Smith in anything still hits hard. Gone too soon.

“This was such a perfect comedy, I can’t believe I spent all these years and knew nothing of this film. A new favorite for sure!”

“This film is a camp masterpiece, if you can watch it with a crowd as rowdy as mine, it will not disappoint,” another wrote.

And a final fan made a bold claim: “This MIGHT be the best movie ever made.” Are you after a religious viewing experience this weekend? Look no further than Film4’s incredible musical double bill.

Sister Act and Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit are airing from 4:45pm on Saturday, 29th November on Film4 and will be available to stream on Channel 4.

At the Beijing premiere of “Zootopia 2” last week, Walt Disney Animation Studios Chief Creative Officer Jared Bush encountered a wall filled with letters from people throughout China, all writing about what the original 2016 animated movie meant to them.

They highlighted the optimism of rabbit cop Judy Hopps and how they wanted to emulate her sunny outlook. They cited the unlikely friendship between Judy and her partner in crime, a fox named Nick Wilde, as hope that they could find common ground with different family members. It was a display Bush didn’t see at any other premiere.

“It’s more than just a story,” said Bush, who wrote and directed “Zootopia 2,” directing alongside Byron Howard. “A lot of the time, these characters have helped people through difficult moments of their life. They have a lot of love for these characters.”

To this day, the original “Zootopia” ranks as China’s highest-grossing Hollywood animated film, with a total box office haul there of $236 million. Marketing ahead of the new film has included promotions with 10 brands, as well as displays throughout the country, including in Shenzhen, Chengdu and Beijing.

But over the years, the China market for U.S.-made films has changed dramatically, leading to questions about whether “Zootopia,” which heads to theaters Wednesday, and its loyal following can break through the more difficult landscape that American movies face there today.

Once seen as a major — and lucrative — destination for big Hollywood blockbusters, the country now has a more robust local film industry that’s pumping out strong competitors. The fraying geopolitical relationship between the U.S. and China also hasn’t helped, nor has the increasing trend of younger audiences watching short-form content on their phones.

“It’s important to the industry that both ‘Zootopia’ and ‘Avatar’ work,” said Andrew Cripps, head of theatrical distribution for Walt Disney Studios, referring to the upcoming James Cameron-directed “Avatar: Fire and Ash.” “The overall industry needs some success at year-end, and I think this would be a tremendous sign of confidence in the marketplace.”

China was once seen as a gold mine for certain films — namely, big studio movies — that could get approval from its government for release.

A decade ago, Hollywood movies would regularly haul in more than $100 million at the Chinese box office, with massive blockbusters like 2015’s “Furious 7” and 2014’s “Transformers: Age of Extinction” drawing north of $300 million each. Some films with softer domestic debuts could count on China to supersize their box-office returns, like 2016’s “Resident Evil: The Final Chapter,” which grossed nearly $160 million in China alone, but just $26.8 million in the U.S. and Canada.

In 2016, the domestic Chinese film business saw a significant slowdown in box-office growth. As a result, revenue from imported films — largely those from the U.S., such as Universal Pictures’ “Warcraft” and Disney-owned Marvel Studios’ “Captain America: Civil War” — increased by 10.9%, said Ying Zhu, author of “Hollywood in China: Behind the Scenes of the World’s Largest Movie Market.”

Those foreign films accounted for 41.7% of the total market share at the time, up from 38.4% in 2015, she wrote in an email. To help boost year-end revenue, Chinese regulators even relaxed the so-called blackout on imported films during December, which was traditionally saved for local movies.

“Zootopia” opened in China to just $22 million at the box office, but momentum grew in subsequent weeks. Though a movie from the U.S. typically got a four-week run in China, Chinese regulators made an exception and added two extra weeks, said Bush, who co-directed and co-wrote the 2016 film.

“‘Zootopia’ was somewhat of a real surprise to us here in China,” he said on a video call from Beijing while on the film’s publicity tour. “We didn’t know that it was going to turn into this phenomenon here.”

Known in China as “Crazy Animal City,” the film’s dynamic between lead characters Nick and Judy and their imperfect but caring relationship appealed to Chinese audiences, as did Judy’s backstory of moving from a small town in the countryside to a major metropolis, Bush said. Animated films have also long been popular in the market.

After the film’s success, Disney built the “Zootopia”-themed land in Shanghai Disneyland, which opened in 2023 and is the only such land in any Disney park. The studio recently held the movie’s Shanghai premiere at the themed land, as crowds of fans (both there and in Beijing) dressed up as characters from the film, including lesser-known ones like Fru Fru the shrew and Officer Clauhauser, a pop culture-obsessed cheetah.

But since 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic, China has pulled back from its embrace of Hollywood films, particularly as its political relationship with the U.S. has chilled.

Earlier this year, China planned to reduce the number of Hollywood films it allows into the country, amid tariff tensions with the U.S. At the same time, China’s homegrown film industry has matured, leading to more locally-produced movies at the box office. A notable success was the animated hit “Ne Zha 2,” which raked in almost $2.2 billion worldwide, $1.8 billion of which was in China.

And similar to the U.S., the Chinese film market has also been dented by the growth of short-form content and increasing popularity of watching entertainment on phones and tablets, keeping theatergoers at home.

That’s all meant a less reliable haul for U.S. films. So far this year, the top-grossing American film in China was Universal’s “Jurassic World: Rebirth,” which brought in $79 million — a far cry from the massive returns some U.S. movies once commanded. The last Disney film that was released in China and made more than $100 million was 2024’s “Alien: Romulus.”

But there are still niches that appeal to Chinese audiences, including family movies, big blockbusters laden with special effects and animated franchises. Cripps said he was “cautiously optimistic” about the film’s reception in China, because of the franchise recognition and the themed land in Shanghai.

“Given what’s happened over the last two to three years, it’s hard to get overly excited until you see some actual data,” he said. “But certainly, it feels good going into it.”

Disney’s latest animated film, “Zootopia 2,” a sequel to its 2016 box-office juggernaut, isn’t exactly an adult political drama, though the stakes certainly feel grimmer. Members of Zootopia’s elite plan to expand their territory by displacing certain indigenous animals from an area they want to claim for themselves. And they will do so without pushback by convincing the rest of the population that their uprooted neighbors are dangerous. Any attempt by the victims of this injustice to reclaim their homeland and their dignity will be deemed a violent attack. In turn, anyone who sides with their cause will be labeled a criminal enabler, a disloyal pariah.

Meanwhile, tensions flare in law enforcement as pawtners Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps (voiced by Jason Bateman and Ginnifer Goodwin) — who in the previous film saved Zootopia from a power-hungry wolf in sheep’s clothing — have to prove their compatibility after their recklessness lands them in hot water with Chief Bogo (Idris Elba). Could their personalities be too disparate for them to make a dream team? Judy values justice above all things, while Nick prioritizes survival and comfort. In truth, the tie-wearing fox only became a cop because of his fondness for Judy, not out of a sense of dutiful conviction.

That push-and-pull tests the strength of their bond as they visit previously unseen areas of Zootopia, including a visit to the Marsh Market, where exiles live. These adventures occur as they search for Gary De’Snake (Ke Huy Quan), a fanny-pack-strapped viper, and Pawbert Lynxley (Andy Samberg), the socially conscious son of a wealthy family. They’re on a quest to find evidence that would clear the reputations of reptiles in Zootopia, all of whom have been forced to exist on the outskirts for decades.

Writer Jared Bush, who also co-directs with Byron Howard (both return from the first “Zootopia”), leans into Quan’s personal history as an immigrant whose family had to escape Vietnam to render Gary a resilient survivor with a noble soul. Leave it to Disney to make a giant snake look disarmingly adorable and to Quan to match that energy with his warm vocal performance. On top of the new characters, Judy and Nick’s emotional arc is adorned with cameos from fan-favorite minor players from the original (Flash, the sloth; Mr. Big, the shrew). The loaded narrative robs the picture of more time with Gary and Pawbert, even if Bush finds plot-effective ways to feature the supporting mammals.

Like its predecessor, “Zootopia 2” impresses visually, especially given the breadth of characters and environments it immerses the audience in. In the faces of new characters like the anxious Pawbert and friendly Gary, one can best appreciate the level of nuanced expressiveness that Disney’s animators, working at the highest level of 3-D CG technique, can achieve.

After several haphazard attempts with the “Frozen” and “Moana” franchises, “Zootopia 2” can take the title as Disney’s most effective animated sequel yet. In most regards, the formula that propelled the first one to hit status remains unchanged: an encyclopedia of animal puns, an upbeat tune by Shakira and a twist villain (in this case, an Elon Musk type desperate for approval that all the money in the world can’t buy). And yet, “Zootopia 2” arrives as an expansion with a punchier, more focused approach to its mature ideas. This is a movie where the antagonists are willing to kill for their nefarious goals, and where the heroes are willing to die in order to uphold what’s right.

The more one reads into the movie’s timeliness, though, the more obvious it becomes that there’s a dissonance between the artists making an animated feature such as this one and the company’s leadership, which continues to push artificial intelligence and capitulate to those who bemoan “wokeness.” Those people might certainly find “Zootopia 2” rather woke indeed. (Who knows, maybe in the next installment Judy and Nick will question their role in perpetuating the police state.) In our bizarro world, the “Zootopia” franchise serves as a vehicle for thought-provoking subjects disseminated by way of colorful anthropomorphic animals.

The prey may change — the planets, too, their digital backdrops swirling like screensavers — but take comfort in knowing that when it comes to a “Predator” movie, we’re still talking about a dude in a suit. This time, that dude is New Zealand’s Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi, a game 7-foot-3 actor whose eyes bulge behind those motorized mandibles and sometimes shine with feeling.

Despite his size, his Dek in “Predator: Badlands” is what you might call a baby: an untested youth who endures a sibling’s beatdown in the film’s opening moments. Their warlord father is displeased with both of them. After some extreme parenting that would be frowned upon in most societies, alien or otherwise, neon-green blood flows and Dek is hurtling toward another world, vengeance burning in his heart.

“Bring it home — for Kwei,” he mutters in an elaborate creature language invented expressly for the film. (The dialogue itself gets less attention.) Dek will seek the “unkillable Kalisk,” prove his worth in the hunt and, presumably, have some terse words with Dad upon his return.

Not to kill a Kalisk or anything but these Yautja (to use their species name) were never meant to carry a movie. Put one in a film with Arnold Schwarzenegger in the original 1987 summer action hit and suddenly the Terminator seems chatty. Pit them against the immortally gross creatures of “Alien vs. Predator” and the Yautja are nearly huggable.

But main characters they are not. “Predator: Badlands” has a misshapen gait to it, like a comedy skit drawn out to feature length. Fortunately, almost as soon as Dek lands on Genna, a planet of murderous flora, to bag his Kalisk, he runs into a babbling half-robot missing her legs who makes the movie much more compelling. You can either wonder how Elle Fanning, the tremulous heart of “A Complete Unknown” and this season’s “Sentimental Value” found herself in it, or smile at the good fortune of her being a stealth nerd who apparently loves a challenge.

Strapped to Dek’s back C-3PO-style, the disembodied Thia (Fanning) fills the movie with a semi-stoned running commentary: “And what does the chewing — your outside fangs or your inside teeth?” she asks him. When a second Fanning shows up as Thia’s vicious sister Tessa, another “synthetic” built for dangerous off-world work, the film finds its groove as a new chapter in the continuing saga of our friends at the Weyland-Yutani Corporation, a fictional enterprise with such spectacularly bad luck at acquiring bioweapons, they should have faced a hostile takeover by now.

And, like virtually all of Hollywood’s anti-corporate sci-fi adventures, “Predator: Badlands” is, at heart, a pro-business statement, bowing especially deeply to James Cameron’s designs for 1986’s “Aliens,” including its squat vehicles, soulless directives (“The Company is not pleased,” says a computer who isn’t the screenwriter) and the colossal power loader that lets someone human-sized do battle with a beast.

There isn’t much of an original signature here. Returning director Dan Trachtenberg hits the beats competently but not too stridently, like a good superfan should. If you’re expecting Dek’s sensitivity to become an asset, give yourself a trophy. Yet if a machine — or a studio — can produce a robot as fun as Thia, there’s hope for this franchise yet.

BRIDGERTON’S Simone Ashley is in pole position to feature in the sequel to Brad Pitt’s movie F1.

The 30-year-old, who starred with Jonathan ­Bailey in the Netflix romance, was cast in this year’s flick but her scenes were cut.

A source said: “A script is already in the works with early plans to go into production next year.”

As well as appearing in Sex Education, Ashley has also lent her acting chops to suspense drama Thriller.

She shot to fame after starring in the hit Netflix show Sex Education.

The star developed her acting skills at the Arts Ed school in Chiswick, which specializes in Musical Theatre & Acting degrees.

FANCY UNDRESS

Celebs’ sexiest Halloween outfits ever from Maura Higgins to Ashley Roberts

SWEET GESTURE

How Justin Trudeau made ‘subtle nod’ to Katy Perry romance

Simone has spoken about coming from a traditional Indian family, who finds her acting career “quite scary and unsettling”.

She told Veylex: “My parents are incredibly protective over me, and sometimes I found it quite stifling.

“It made me want to escape and do things my own way. I’ve always been a bit rebellious in that sense.”

“I am incredibly privileged to be apart of a generation where young women from all over the world have more opportunity than ever before, where we are being less stereotyped and walls and being broken down slowly.”