Box-Office Preview: 'Thor: Ragnarok' Eyes $100M-Plus Debut

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Thor: Ragnarok

  

'A Bad Moms Christmas' also opens nationwide.

Marvel Studios and Disney's critical darling Thor: Ragnarok is expected to rouse the U.S. box office back to life this weekend with a $100 million-plus bow, well ahead of the first two films.

Directed by acclaimed New Zealand filmmaker Taika Waititi, the threequel sees the Asgardian god (Chris Hemsworth) team up with brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and pal Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) to fight the goddess of death, Hela (Cate Blanchett). Idris Elba and Anthony Hopkins also star.

Thor: Ragnarok currently boasts a 97 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes — the top score of any film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (sorry, Iron Man and Captain America).

Overseas, the event film opened to a thunderous $109 million last weekend from about 50 percent of the international marketplace. It debuts in the rest of the world this weekend, including China.

In North America, Thor: Ragnarok will play in 4,080 theaters, including on 391 Imax screens. All 16 MCU movies have opened at No. 1, and Thor: Ragnarok won't be any different. Waititi's film also should have no trouble securing the top debut for a superhero film unfurling in November. Thor: The Dark World, released in November 2013, is the current record-holder with $85.7 million, followed by 2016 MCU titleDoctor Strange ($85 million).

The first Thor launched to $65.7 million in May 2011, making Thor: Ragnarok the rare franchise installment to wield a heavier hammer than previous installments, should all go as planned.

In terms of the top November openings among any film genre, installments in the The Hunger Games and Twilight top the chart, led by 2013's The Hunger Games: Catching Fire ($158.1 million).

The frame's other major new offering is STXfilms' A Bad Moms Christmas, which opened to a muted $2.6 million on Wednesday from 3,615 theaters. Going after women, the sequel had hoped to post a five-day debut in the $22 million-$25 million range, on par with the first film ($23.8 million). Based on Wednesday's gross, the R-rated comedy may not clear $20 million unless it enjoys an especially strong Thursday and weekend.

So far, reviews, including The Hollywood Reporter's, are decidedly mixed. Ditto for audiences, who gave the R-rated comedy a B CinemaScore.

Corey Feldman Says Actor Jon Grissom Molested Him In The 1980s

Corey Feldman publicly accused actor Jon Grissom on Thursday of molesting him when Feldman was a Hollywood child star in the 1980s.

The “Goonies” actor named Grissom as one of his multiple alleged molesters during an appearance on “The Dr. Oz Show,” just moments before calling law enforcement officials to report the allegations.

“That is him,” Feldman said as host Mehmet Oz held up a photo of Grissom on his phone. “That is the guy.” 

Feldman, who has alleged for years that he was the victim of a Hollywood pedophile ring, said he wanted to name Grissom in his 2013 memoir Coreyography, but his lawyers said no. He said “Ron Crimson” was the name he chose for Grissom in the book.

“We had to change the names legally,” Feldman said. “The lawyers made me change the names. ... They gave me a list of three or four, you know, names. I picked the one that sounded closest to his name.”

Feldman has publicly identified former child talent manager and convicted sex offender Marty Weiss as one of his former abusers. He said Monday during an appearance on NBC’s “Today” show that he would be “happy” to name five other alleged abusers once he gets legal representation.

The “Stand By Me” actor encouraged Grissom on Thursday to turn himself in to police.

“Now is your time,” Feldman said Thursday. “Be a man for the first time and come forward yourself. ... Let it be known and you will be dealt with in a much more tolerant way, I’m sure. However, if you do not, we are coming for you.”

Grissom appeared in the 1980s movies “License to Drive” and “Dream a Little Dream,” which both starred Feldman. Grissom did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s requests for comment.

Feldman appeared to hint at Grissom’s identity on Twitter in March.

Xiaomi launches Redmi Y1 Selfie phone for Rs 8,999; Y1 Lite for Rs 6,999

The Redmi Y1 is company's first selfie focused smartphone launched in the Indian market. It features a 16MP camera with LED Selfie-light.

Chinese smartphone player, Xioami, has been really aggressive in the Indian market. After launching the dual camera phone A1 followed by Mi Mix 2, the company is now launching two new smartphones - Redmi Y1 and Y1 Lite.

The Redmi Y1 is company's first selfie focused smartphone launched in the Indian market. It features a 16MP camera with LED Selfie-light. According to the company claims, it stimulates effects of natural lighting, and captures sharper and more vibrant self-portraits. There is also a Beautify 3.0 feature that enhances pictures while preserving facial details.

Featuring a 5.5inch HD display, the Y1 has got a brushed metallic finish and a fingerprint scanner at the rear. It is a dual SIM smartphone with support for two 4G nano SIM cards. It is powered by an octa-core 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 435 processor with Adreno 505 GPU with 3GB RAM, and comes with  32GB internal storage and also has a dedicated microSD card slot as well. And it also has an infrared remote for controlling devices using the smartphone itself. Just like other Xiaomi smartphones, even the Y1 will be made in India.

The Redmi Y1 with 3GB RAM and 32GB storage has been priced at Rs 8,999 and the seconded variant with 4GB RAM and 64 GB storage is priced at Rs 10,999.

Xiaomi has also announced the launch of Redmi Y1 Lite which features a 5.5inch display, 13MP rear camera and is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 435 processor with 2GB RAM and 16GB onboard storage and has been priced at Rs 6,999. Just like the Redmi Y1, even this one is a dual SIM phone with a dedicated slot for expandable memory.

FIFA WORLDCUP

PM Narendra Modi welcomes the world for India's first FIFA tournament

Modi will be accompanied by FIFA General Secretary Fatma Samoura and Head of FIFA tournaments Jaime Yarza on an inaugural day.

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Moditoday welcomed all the participating nations and wished them luck for the U-17 World Cup, India's first ever FIFA tournament.

The World Cup starts today with matches in Delhi and Mumbai.

"A warm welcome and best wishes to all teams taking part in the FIFA U-17 World Cup. I am sure the World Cup will be a treat for football lovers," the Prime Minister said.

Modi will be a part of the World Cup's opening day proceedings, which will include a small ceremony at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.

The tournament will be played in six cities -- New Delhi, Navi Mumbai, Kolkata, Guwahati, Kochi and Margao.

Modi will be accompanied by FIFA General Secretary Fatma Samoura and Head of FIFA tournaments Jaime Yarza on an inaugural day.

Indian football greats I.M. Vijayan, Bhaichung Bhutia and current national team captain Sunil Chhetri are also likely to be a part of the historical moment.

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2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup

The 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup is the 17th FIFA U-17 World Cup, a biennial international football tournament contested by men's under-17 national teams. Organized by FIFA, the tournament is taking place in India between 6 October and 28 October 2017, after the country was awarded the hosting rights on 5 December 2013. The tournament marks the first time India have hosted a FIFA tournament and the first Asian hosted U-17 World Cup since 2013.

2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup

FIFA U-17 World Cup India 2017
Tournament details
Host country	India
Dates	6–28 October 2017
Teams	24 (from 6 confederations)
Venue(s)	6 (in 6 host cities)
Tournament statistics
Matches played	24
Goals scored	86 (3.58 per match)
Attendance	537,363 (22,390 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Amine Gouiri (4 goals)
← 2015 2019 → All statistics correct as of 11 October 2017.

The matches are being played in 6 stadiumsin six host cities around the country, with the final taking place at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata, West Bengal. Twenty-three teams, besides the host India, managed to qualify for the tournament via participating in their various continental under-17 tournaments. In the first round of the tournament finals, the teams will compete in round-robin groups of four teams for points, with the top two teams in each group proceeding while the top four third placed teams will also advance. These 16 teams will advance to the knockout stage, where three rounds of play will decide which teams would participate in the final.

The reigning FIFA U-17 World Cup champions, Nigeria, will not have the opportunity to defend their title after failing to qualify for this edition. In failing to qualify, Nigeria became the first incumbent title holder since Switzerland in 2009 to fail to qualify for the subsequent edition.

Who are the Rohingya Muslims? The stateless minority fleeing violence in Burma

•  BY SURAJ GOSWAMI

8 SEPTEMBER 2017 • 2:02 PM

They have often been called the most persecuted minority in the world. The 1.1 million Rohingya Muslims squeezed precariously into the north-west state of Rakhine, in mainly Buddhist Burma, bordering majority Muslim Bangladesh, are stateless and unwanted.

Neither country will give them citizenship even though their families’ roots in modern-day Rakhine, once called Arakan, can be traced back to the Eighth Century. 

Displaced Rohingya refugees from Rakhine state in Myanmar carry their belongings as they flee violence, near Ukhia, near the border between Bangladesh and Myanmar on September 4 CREDIT: K.M. ASAD/AFP

Since World War Two they have been treated increasingly by Burmese authorities as illegal, interloping Bengalis, facing apartheid-like conditions that deny them free movement or state education while government forces intermittently drive out and slaughter them.

Displaced Rohingya refugees from Rakhine state in Myanmar rest near Ukhia, near the border between Bangladesh and Myanmar, as they flee violence on September 4, 2017 CREDIT:  AFP

Over the past year, military operations against Rohingya villages have been so intense and cruel that the minority’s defenders have warned of an unfolding genocide.

The United Nations has reported that the army may have committed ethnic cleansing.

The inhumane treatment of the Rohingyas has tarnished the image of Myanmar’s civilian leader and Nobel peace prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi,once a famously unflinching defender of human rights and darling of the West.

She now faces international fury, particularly from Muslim nations, for failing to stand up to armed forces chief General Min Aung Hlaing, whose soldiers are accused of rape, murder, arson, and of ripping Rohingya babies from their mothers’ arms and throwing them into rivers and fire.

Rohingya Muslim refugees along with Indian supporters hold placards against human rights violations in Myanmar during a protest in New Delhi on September 5, 2017 CREDIT: AFP

Ms Suu Kyi has publicly stuck to the military’s line that the Rohingya are illegally squatting on the Burmese territory, leaving fellow Nobel winner, Malala Yousafzai, aghast and urging her to speak out against the tragedy.

The latest military crackdown, which began on August 25, caused almost 90,000 Rohingyas to flee under fire to squalid, overflowing relief camps across the Bangladeshi border in just two weeks.

Officially close to 400 people had died by early September, but human rights activists claim to have confirmation of at least 1,000 deaths and believe the figure is much higher.

The death toll will inevitably rise after Burma, also known as Myanmar, blocked UN agencies from delivering vital food, water and medicine supplies to 250,000 Rakhine residents desperately in need.

Ongoing persecution of the Rohingya has inevitably led to an armed, if disorganised, resistance.

The army “clearing operations” which sparked the mass exodus of civilians in both October 2016 and in August 2017, were launched after insurgents known as the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) attacked several paramilitary checkposts.

Rohingya activists claim the insurgents are mainly young men who have been pushed to breaking point by relentless oppression.

A report released in early September by the Burma Human Rights Network documents the rise of systematic abuses against Burmese Muslims since 2012, including the creation of “Muslim-free zones”, denial of ID cards, and the banning of Islamic holidays.

The oppression has been mirrored by an upsurge of ultra-nationalist Buddhist groups who encourage an anti-Muslim rhetoric.

ARSA has so far been described as a rag-tag collection of small groups armed with knives, sticks and some basic IEDs, rather than a robust military force or mass mobilisation.

But rising anger in the Muslim world about the plight of the Rohingya has compounded fears of homegrown militancy as well as support from international jihadists.

Al Qaeda’s offshoot in Yemen has already called for retaliatory attacks against Myanmar, while the Afghan Taliban called on Muslims to “use their abilities to help Burma's oppressed Muslims.”

Matthew Smith, director of Fortify Rights, a human rights group working with Rohingya refugees, said there was a danger of escalation.

“There is certainly a risk that international extremist organisations will seek to be involved in northern Rakhine state,” he said. “The best way to prevent this from escalating is to protect the rights of the civilian population. Myanmar is doing the exact opposite.”