NEW YORK: Scarlett Johansson was named the top-grossing actor of 2016 on Tuesday thanks to her roles in superhero movie “Captain America: Civil War” and Hollywood satire “Hail Caesar.”
Forbes said Johansson just edged out her “Captain America” co-stars Chris Evans and Robert Downey with box-office earnings of her second 2016 movie, “Hail Caesar.”
Johansson’s movies grossed a leading $1.2 billion at the worldwide box office this year, compared with $1.15 billion for “Captain America: Civil War.”
Released in May and featuring a conflict between Marvel comic book heroes like Iron Man, Spider-Man, Black Widow and Ant Man, Walt Disney Co’s “Captain America” was the biggest earner worldwide in 2016, according to data from Boxofficemojo.com.
Australian actress Margot Robbie, who enjoyed a break-out year, placed fourth with $1.1 billion thanks to roles in two Warner Bros movies “Suicide Squad” and “The Legend of Tarzan.”
The Forbes list was dominated by superhero and comic book movies, including “Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice” and “Deadpool.”
Britain’s Felicity Jones entered the Forbes list for the first time, with roles in “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” thriller “Inferno” and magical children’s story “A Monster Calls.” Jones came in ninth place with $805 million.
Forbes made its calculations based on global ticket sales from the films of top Hollywood actors, but it did not count animated movies such as Disney’s “Finding Dory,” the second biggest release of 2016 with $1.02 billion.
Scarlett Johansson is 2016’s top earning movie star
Scarlett Johansson is 2016’s top earning movie star
English museum shines light on Mary Shelley and her Gothic classic ‘Frankenstein’
- Museum in English city of Bath celebrates work of Mary Shelley
BATH: On a window of a Bath townhouse, one of the southwestern English city’s most famous residents looks out at passersby. Inside is Mary Shelley’s House of Frankenstein, a museum dedicated to the writer and her Gothic novel, published in 1818, which has inspired numerous screen adaptations, with the latest being Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro’s Oscar contender.
“‘Frankenstein’ is regarded as one of the most important books in English literature ... It’s the world’s first science fiction novel,” said Chris Harris, co-founder and director of the immersive attraction.
“It’s a very modern story ... he’s trying to fit in, but he’s abandoned ... and rejected and has prejudice thrown toward him. And you think, well, from prejudice comes violence, which is happening nowadays.”
‘FEAR ABOUT CHANGE’
Born Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, Shelley came up with the idea for “Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus” at 18 years old. She and her future husband, poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, were staying by Lake Geneva in 1816 with Lord Byron when the latter challenged their group to write a ghost story. She found inspiration there.
Back in England, she moved to Bath, where she penned key chapters before finishing the book — about the scientist Victor Frankenstein, who brings to life a creature assembled from body parts — in the town of Marlow.
“It plays on people’s fears about change,” Harris said. “Now Frankenstein is a metaphor for anything we’re scared of.”
The first “Frankenstein” adaptation was a musical, he said.
“The Creature in her book is sensitive, he talks ... but in the play, he was rendered into a monster. He didn’t talk, he was mute. He just went around killing people,” Harris said.
“So, right from the off, he’s been sort of invented in a slightly different way. And that’s happened all the way through the evolution of film and theater ... So it’s interesting to see del Toro’s film; they’re exploring a different side of him.”
OSCAR AND BAFTA NOMINATIONS
That film, with nine Oscar nominations including best picture, shows actor Jacob Elordi’s Creature as gentle and hungry for knowledge but facing resentment. Elordi received Best Supporting Actor nods at the Oscars and Sunday’s BAFTA Film Awards, Britain’s top movie honors, where “Frankenstein” has eight nominations.
While del Toro’s movie differs from the book in several ways, including omitting the Creature’s murders, Harris said physically it was “a similar recreation” of Shelley’s description.
The museum has its own animatronic, standing in Victor Frankenstein’s recreated laboratory. Elsewhere, visitors learn about Shelley’s life, tragedies she faced and her interest in science.
Nearby, by Bath Abbey, is a 2018 plaque marking where Shelley lived in 1816-1817 and worked on the book. Bath is also associated with another female novelist, Jane Austen, who is celebrated annually with a festival. Harris, who opened his museum in 2021, says Shelley deserves more recognition.
“We just want people to understand that this is an extraordinary young woman who came up with one of the most enduring books ever written, that will never go out of fashion.”
