The much-hyped sequel “Joker: Folie à Deux” is projected to lose anywhere from $150 million to $200 million after a poor showing at the box office and lackluster reviews from critics and audiences. The sequel to “Joker” (2019) was expected to perform much better, especially considering that the original raked in just over $1 billion. But the Joaquin Phoenix-led film, which also stars Lady Gaga, only earned $51.5 million domestically and $165 million globally after two weeks of release, per Variety. Comparatively, the original “Joker” made $96.2 million domestically and $248.4 million globally in its first three days. It also won two Oscars, including a Best Actor award for Phoenix. “Folie à Deux” cost $200 million to produce and about $100 million to market and distribute, the outlet noted. That makes its break-even amount around $450 million, which it likely will never reach. Anonymous “insiders” cited by Variety project the film will lose hundreds of millions of dollars. Warner Bros. disagrees with these predictions, however. “Any estimates suggested by anonymous ‘insiders’ or ‘rival executives’ are grossly wrong and continues a trend where rumor is reported as fact,” a Warner Bros. spokesperson said in a statement. “The film continues to play in theatrical release, included with this week’s opening in China, and will continue to earn revenue throughout its home viewing and ancillary run.” MATT WALSH’S ‘AM I RACIST?’ COMING TO DAILYWIRE+ OCT. 28 The studio is also hoping to recoup some of the money when “Joker 2” is released on streaming at the end of the month. “Folie à Deux” is very different from the first “Joker” film, which was a dark, gritty antihero tale. The sequel is a musical with a love story intertwined, which didn’t resonate with audiences. The movie has a 33% rating from critics and a 32% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. “The falloff in quality from ‘Joker,’ a genuinely searing innovation in comic-book movies, to this one is so steep that it’s comparable to the dropoff between ‘The Hangover’ and ‘The Hangover Part II,’” the Wall Street Journal critic wrote.  The reviewer from The Atlantic wrote, “The musical performances are underpowered, lacking much movement, personality, or surprise. In fact, the film’s problems are so glaring that one can’t help but wonder about what happened behind the scenes.” Fans were not impressed either, with many complaining about the film being a musical and having such a different feel compared to the original. “I did not want to go see a musical. I went to go see a joker movie,” one moviegoer wrote, echoing the sentiments of so many others.

A widely-cited study that claims black babies were more likely to die under white doctors’ care had a serious methodological problem — one that appears to explain the study’s troubling conclusion, according to a new report from the Manhattan Institute. Manhattan Institute scholars George Borjas and Robert VerBruggen found that the authors of the influential 2020 study did not consider that white doctors were more likely to care for black babies with low birth weight, which dramatically increases the chance a baby will die. When controlling for low birth weight, the scholars found no significant difference in outcomes for newborns based on a doctor’s race. Their findings call into question the legitimacy of the study, which has been cited to demonstrate supposed inherent racism among white doctors. “This fact that Black newborns do so much better under the care of Black physicians warrants greater investigation by researchers and medical practitioners into drivers of differences between higher- and lower-performing physicians, and why Black physicians systemically outperform their colleagues when caring for Black newborns,” study co-author Aaron Sojourner claimed in 2020.  Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson cited the study in her dissent from the Supreme Court’s decision striking down affirmative action in higher education. “For high-risk black newborns, having a black physician more than doubles the likelihood that the baby will live, and not die,” Jackson wrote.  When controlling for birth weight, the data doesn’t actually show that white doctors were performing poorly when working with black patients. “Controlling for very low birth weight — i.e., comparing newborns within the same weight class — eliminates the racial concordance result in the most detailed statistical models. This happens because black doctors disproportionately care for black newborns with healthy birth weights,” Borjas and VerBruggen wrote. “Conversely, white doctors care for a disproportionately large share of the black babies most at risk, those who have a very low birth weight.” Borjas and VerBruggen argue that the difference can be explained by controlling for babies treated with healthy birth weights and those born at a dangerously low weight. They argued that controlling for birth weight rendered the seeming disparity in treatment meaningless.  To analyze the original study, Borjas and VerBruggen obtained the same data set used by the George Mason researchers and attempted to replicate their findings. The data was pulled from births in Florida between 1992 to 2015.  MATT WALSH’S ‘AM I RACIST?’ COMING TO DAILYWIRE+ OCT. 28 The scholars said that the outcome for black newborns could be improved by focusing on ensuring healthy pregnancies.  “In short, our analysis suggests that the potential for improving neonatal outcomes for black infants lies more in reducing the incidence of newborns born with very low birth weights (and in improving care for those infants) than in the color of their doctors’ skin,” the scholars wrote. “Fortunately, care for premature infants has improved rapidly in recent years—though not all hospitals routinely do, or are equipped to do, everything that is possible.” Brad Greenwood, the lead author of the 2020 study, told The Daily Wire that he welcomed academic discussion on the issue. “I am glad that there is a continued and robust dialogue in the scholarly community about the means by which the racial mortality gap in birthing outcomes can be ameliorated,” he said. “It is important work that needs to be continued.” Borjas and VerBruggen first published their study on the report last month in an article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 

Even during the darkest moments in life, kind people never fail to show up. These people are being seen right now in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton. With so many homes and businesses destroyed, it’s more important than ever for communities to come together and help those who are in need. Recovering from this storm will not be easy, and it will take time, but folks like the ones at Sheehan Towing are more than happy to step up. This towing company has been around for over two decades. In that time, they have witnessed a number of hurricanes go through the area. Still, few have been quite as devastating as Milton. Many homes have been destroyed, giving their team a lot of work to do — and they’re sharing some of that work on their social media accounts. One particularly popular video shows them recovering a dumpster that managed to land on a roof. See it for yourself in the video below. @sheehanstowing Crazy recovery! Please pray for the families that were affected from the tornadoes in Palm Beach County #dumpster #dumpsteronroof #roof #tornado #help #flood #hurricane #storm #florida #palmbeach #family #pray #westpalmbeach #crazy ♬ original sound – Rabbit ☾ When a Dumpster is Found On a Roof, This Palm Beach Country Towing Company Comes to the Rescue As you might imagine, removing a massive dumpster from a roof is no easy task. Even smaller dumpsters weigh over 1,000 pounds, after all. But the folks at Sheehan Towing are pros, so they were able to carefully remove the dumpster in a way that made it look easy. “Crazy recovery!” the towing company’s caption reads. “Please pray for the families that were affected from the tornadoes in Palm Beach County.” “That is insane! Those things weigh so much,” someone in the comment section of the video points out, with another adding, “Imagine how strong that wind had to be.” “It’s absolutely insane what’s happened here in FL the last couple weeks,” a third person shares. “Please pray for everyone who was a victim of Helene & Milton.” You can find the source of this story’s featured image here! The post “Let’s Go Recover A Dumpster From A Roof” Hurricane Milton Cleanup Heroes appeared first on InspireMore.

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