The Wonder Woman Effect: Female Directors Are Owning the Box Office This Summer
If stereotypes are to be believed, women aren’t very good at math, but I’ll give this a shot. This weekend, Wonder Woman brought in another $80.3 million at the global box office. Not bad. You know what’s even better? Last weekend, the movie’s second in theaters, it brought in more cash than the latest Tom-Cruise-runs-from-things…
Is The Dark Tower Any Good? Depends How Much You've Read
Filmmakers have been trying to adapt Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series for more than a decade. But with time-jumping metanarratives and compulsive genre-switching, the eight novels proved tough to wrangle into one film-able narrative. Director Nikolaj Arcel’s version of King’s events finally hits theaters today. Written by no fewer than four writers (not including…
The Beeping, Gargling History of Gaming’s Most Iconic Sounds
The bouncy beeps of Pac-Man. The percussive build-up in Legend of Zelda. The effusive gibberish of The Sims. The sounds in videogames tell us to speed up, start over, and of course, to keep playing. But how does one set of beeps so effectively tell you you've gained power, while another indicates your character has…
The Handmaid's Tale Just Made Hulu a Prestige TV Player
When Hulu made its debut nearly a decade ago, you would have been forgiven for thinking its semi-cryptic name was actually an acronym for “Here’s, Uh, Lotsa Unrelated stuff!” For its first few years, the streaming service’s offerings were hilariously scattershot, a mix of rando ‘80s sitcoms, oddball documentaries, and some cool Criterion Collection samurai…
Stranger Things' Lab to Stuff Co.: Which Evil Org Is For You?
During the first season of Stranger Things—which returns to Netflix this Friday—viewers were introduced to the Hawkins National Laboratory, a mysterious high-tech lair in which scientists conduct all sorts of top-secret mucking about with the space-time continuum. Sure, it was an effectively creepy setting—but what would it be like as a workplace, especially when compared…
Why Netflix’s Best New Comedies Are Way Less Binge-Friendly
Over the long holiday weekend, chances are you binged on at least one Netflix show—and now you want to talk to a friend about it. But how? You can go cryptic: Have you figured out what happens to the main character yet? Or you can go analytical: Which number episode are you on? Or you…
Why Taika Waititi Directed Thor: Ragnarok in a Mo-Cap Onesie
Between all the superheroes and supervillains, directing a Marvel movie takes an effort that verges on the superhuman. But when he was making Thor: Ragnarok, Taika Waititi had to do more than wrangle Thor, Loki, and the Hulk; he also cast himself as Korg, the stone-man gladiatorial fighter who becomes Thor’s new mate. “I usually…
Win or Lose, the Alex Jones Lawsuit Will Help Redefine Free Speech
Once upon a time, there was a fringe news outlet with a loud and dissenting opinion. A fatal shooting, it claimed, was not at all what it seemed to be: It was a hoax, orchestrated by some shadowy force—probably Communists—bent on replacing freedom with dictatorship. This was untrue, but that didn’t stop the outlet from…
Enjoy Jay-Z's New Album—It May Be the Last of Its Kind
Back in March, when Drake released his project More Life, he did something unusual: He didn’t make it an Apple Music exclusive. Despite having a long, successful history with the service—he actually helped announce its launch in 2015—he released the “playlist” on Spotify and Tidal as well. It broke streaming records. After a 2016 that…
A Sneak Peek at Nike's New Jordans
If you want to feel old, forget the fact that WIRED is 25, and realize that Nike designed the first Air Jordan in 1984, for NBA star Michael Jordan. Thirty-four years later, the original red, black and white high tops have spawned their own sneaker subculture. This morning, at the WIRED25 festival in San Francisco,…