title: Sonic the Hedgehog

text: Despite the critical decline, Dimps' side-scrolling "Sonic" games for the GBA and DS were consistently praised. Writing for "Destructoid", Jim Sterling said: "Hyperbole states that we haven't had a good "Sonic" game since "Sonic Adventure", which really betrays how much we gamers ignore the handheld market... "Sonic Advance" and the "Sonic Rush" games have often ranged from decent to superb, which makes one wonder why Dimps is the 'B' team and the inferior Sonic Team is the 'A' team." In the wake of the 2006 "Sonic the Hedgehog", Brett Elston of "GamesRadar+" said that "Sonic Rush Adventure" "managed to keep the [series'] spirit alive". While "Sonic Unleashed" was criticized for its addition of beat 'em up gameplay, which "IGN" Hilary Goldstein bemoaned had "nothing to do with Sonic whatsoever", its speed-based platforming levels were widely praised; critics suggested that the game would have been better received if it had focused on them.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog

text: In October 2010, Sega de-listed "Sonic" games with average or below-average scores on the review aggregator website Metacritic, to increase the value of the brand and avoid confusing customers. That month, "Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I" was released to general praise, with Goldstein summarizing it as "short but sweet and well worth downloading". "Sonic Colors", released shortly afterward, was hailed as a return to form, as was 2011's "Sonic Generations". Though Evans-Thirlwell considered "Sonic Generations" the best 3D "Sonic" game, he called it "an admission of defeat" for depicting the 2D and 3D incarnations of Sonic "together only to remind us of their profound differences". "Sonic Lost World" was released in 2013 to more mixed reviews, with some critics considering it a fresh take on the "Sonic" formula and others a poorly designed mess. The two "Sonic Boom" games received widespread negative reviews and sold only 490,000 copies combined by February 2015, making them the worst-selling "Sonic" games. That year, Iizuka admitted that Sonic Team had prioritized shipping games over quality and did not have enough involvement in third-party "Sonic" games such as "Sonic Boom". The Sega CEO, Haruki Satomi, acknowledged that Sega in general had "partially betrayed" the trust of the longtime fans and hoped to focus on quality over quantity.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog

text: In June 2015, the "Sonic" public relations manager Aaron Webber took charge of the series' Twitter account. Under Webber, the account, @sonic_hedgehog, became renowned for posting internet memes and making self-deprecating comments about the "Sonic" franchise's critical decline. According to Allegra Frank of "Polygon", Webber "had an important effect on the franchise, cultivating a new persona for the character, one that has created a renewed sense of hope". The announcement of "Sonic Mania" in 2016 brought further hope for the "Sonic" franchise's future. Journalists described it as a true continuation of the Genesis games, succeeding where previous "Sonic" games—such as "Sonic Rush" and "Sonic 4"—had failed. It became the best-reviewed "Sonic" game in 15 years upon its August 2017 release; Matt Espineli of "GameSpot" summarized it "exceed[ing] expectations of what a new game in the franchise can look and play like, managing to simultaneously be a charming celebration of the past and a natural progression of the series' classic 2D formula". Many called it one of the best games in the series and expressed excitement for "Sonic" future, although "Sonic Forces", released a few months later, received mixed reviews.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog

text: "Sonic the Hedgehog" is one of the bestselling video game franchises. The series' cumulative sales reached 89million units by March 2011 and over by 2016. The "Mario & Sonic" series alone sold over 19million units . The "Sonic the Hedgehog" video games grossed over in sales by 2014, and over . Series sales and free-to-play mobile game downloads totaled units by 2019, and over units by 2020. In 1993, Sonic was tied with Mario as the highest-earning entertainment personalities of the year, each generating ( adjusted for inflation) in digital game sales that year. In the United Kingdom, "Sonic" was the sixth-bestselling game franchise between 1996 and 2012.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog

text: Individual "Sonic" games have been bestsellers as well. The original game is the bestselling Genesis game, while "Sonic the Hedgehog 2" is the bestselling Game Gear game, "Sonic CD" is the bestselling Sega CD game, and "Sonic Adventure" is the bestselling Dreamcast game. "Sonic Adventure 2" is the eighth-bestselling GameCube game in the US and the bestselling GameCube game that was not published by Nintendo. Upon release, "Sonic the Hedgehog 2" set records for being the fastest-selling game, selling out copies worldwide within two weeks in 1992. In terms of sales revenue, the original "Sonic the Hedgehog" earned over by 1997 ( adjusted for inflation), while "Sonic the Hedgehog 2" grossed in 1992 ( adjusted for inflation), the latter being the highest-grossing home entertainment product of 1992.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog

text: Primarily because of its Genesis bundling, "Sonic the Hedgehog" contributed greatly to the console's popularity in North America. Between October and December 1991, the Genesis outsold its chief competitor, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, by a two-to-one ratio; at its January 1992 peak Sega held 65 percent of the market for 16-bit consoles. Although Nintendo eventually reclaimed the number-one position, it was the first time since December 1985 that Nintendo had not led the console market. "1UP.com" credited "Sonic" for "turning the course" of the 16-bit console wars, helping make Sega a dominant player and industry giant.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog

text: During the 16-bit era, "Sonic" inspired similar platformers starring animal mascots, including the "Bubsy" series, "Aero the Acro-Bat" (1993), "James Pond 3" (1993), "Earthworm Jim" (1994), and "Zero the Kamikaze Squirrel" (1994). "Animal with attitude" games carried over to the 3D era, with the developers of "Gex" (1995) and "Crash Bandicoot" (1996) citing "Sonic" as a major inspiration. According to Levi Buchanan of "IGN", ""Sonic" inspired so many of these copycats that they practically became an entire subgenre for the platformer." Thorpe commented that "it's hard to keep track of how many programmers have cited ["Sonic the Hedgehog"] as a bar against which they have measured their own work", while Phil Hornshaw of "Complex" noted that few animal mascot characters achieved the same success as Sonic. Regarding the series' influence on the video game industry, Thorpe wrote:


title: Sonic the Hedgehog

text: "Computer and Video Games" ("CVG") magazine also credited "Sonic the Hedgehog" with helping to popularize console video games in the United Kingdom, where home computers previously dominated the home video game market. They said the success of "Sonic the Hedgehog" was "one of the main reasons for the popularity of" console video games in the United Kingdom.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog

text: Outside the "Sonic" series, Sonic appears in other Sonic Team games as a playable character in "Christmas Nights" (1996), a power-up in "Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg" (2003), and in a cameo in the 2008 Wii version of "Samba de Amigo" (1999). "Sonic" characters also feature in the "Sega All-Stars" series, which includes "Sega Superstars" (2004), "Sega Superstars Tennis" (2008), and Sumo Digital's kart racing games "Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing" (2010) and "Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed" (2012).


title: Sonic the Hedgehog

text: Since 2007, Sega has collaborated with former rival Nintendo to produce "Mario & Sonic", an Olympic Games-themed crossover with the "Mario" franchise. The first "Mario & Sonic" game was released in 2007 for the Wii and in 2008 for the DS to tie in with the 2008 Summer Olympics. "Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games", based on the 2010 Winter Olympics, was released in 2010 for the Wii and DS, and "Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games", based on the 2012 Summer Olympics, was released for the Wii in 2011 and the 3DS in 2012. The fourth game, 2013's "Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games", was exclusive to the Wii U, but the following game, "Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games" (2016), was released on both the Wii U and 3DS. After a brief hiatus, the series made a return in 2019 with "Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020" for the Switch, based on the 2020 Summer Olympics.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog

text: Sonic appears as a playable character in Nintendo's "Super Smash Bros." crossover fighting games, beginning with "Super Smash Bros. Brawl" in 2008. Alongside Solid Snake from Konami's "Metal Gear" franchise, Sonic was the first non-Nintendo character to appear in "Smash". He was considered for inclusion in "Super Smash Bros. Melee" (2001), but the game was too close to completion so his introduction was delayed until "Brawl". He returned in the sequels "Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS" and "Wii U" (2014) and "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate" (2018). Shadow and Knuckles appear in "Smash" as non-playable characters, while Tails and Knuckles costumes are available for players' Mii avatars. A Sonic amiibo figurine was released for the "Smash" games, and is also compatible with "Mario Kart 8" (2014), "Super Mario Maker" (2015), and "Yoshi's Woolly World" (2015).


title: Sonic the Hedgehog

text: In June 2015, characters from the "Angry Birds" RPG "Angry Birds Epic" (2014) appeared as playable characters in "Sonic Dash" during a three-week promotion, while Sonic was added to "Angry Birds Epic" as a playable character the following September. Similar crossovers with the Sanrio characters Hello Kitty, Badtz-Maru, My Melody, and Chococat and the Namco game "Pac-Man" took place in December 2016 and February 2018. In November 2016, a "Sonic" expansion pack was released for the toys-to-life game "Lego Dimensions" (2015); the pack includes Sonic as a playable character, in addition to "Sonic" levels and vehicles. In September 2021, Sonic and Tails became playable characters in "".


title: Sonic the Hedgehog

text: One of the world's most popular video game characters, by 1992 Sonic was more recognizable to children ages 6 to 11 than Disney's Mickey Mouse. In 1993, Sonic became the first video game character to have a balloon in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, and was one of the four characters inducted on the Walk of Game in 2005, alongside Mario, Link, and Master Chief. Additionally, a Japanese team developing the Radio & Plasma Wave Investigation (RPWI) instrumentation for the "Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer" spacecraft, to be launched by ESA and Airbus in 2023, received approval to use Sonic as the mascot. Sonic and Eggman appear as minor characters in the Walt Disney Animation Studios films "Wreck-It Ralph" (2012) and "Ralph Breaks the Internet" (2018), while Sonic makes cameos in Steven Spielberg's "Ready Player One" (2018) and "" (2022).


title: Sonic the Hedgehog

text: The franchise is known for its eccentric and passionate fandom, which produces unofficial media including fangames, fan fiction, modifications and ROM hacks of existing games, fan films, and fan art. Caty McCarthy of "USGamer" noted that many fans have continued to support the series in spite of poorly received games like the 2006 "Sonic the Hedgehog", and credited the fandom with helping maintain public interest in the franchise. Notable "Sonic" fangames include "" (2013), set between the events of "Sonic the Hedgehog 2" and "3", and "Sonic Dreams Collection" (2015), which satirizes the series' fandom. "Sonic Mania" development team included individuals who had worked on "Sonic" ROM hacks and fangames, while Iizuka said the character customization system in "Sonic Forces" was influenced by the "Sonic" community's tendency to create original characters. Summer of Sonic, an annual fan convention dedicated to the "Sonic" series and hosted in the United Kingdom, was founded by Svend Joscelyne and Adam Tuff and first held in 2008.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog

text: "Sonic" has inspired various internet memes, which have been acknowledged by Sega and referenced in games. "Sanic hegehog", a crude Sonic drawn in Microsoft Paint, originated in 2010; typically, the meme uses one of Sonic's catchphrases but with poor grammar. The "Sonic" Twitter account has made numerous references to it, and it appeared in official downloadable content for "Sonic Forces" on in-game shirts and as a visual gag in the "Sonic the Hedgehog" film. Sanic also inspired similar memes and parodies, and was described by William Moo of "Syfy Wire" as "perfect proof of the twisted love and appreciation many have" for Sonic. In January 2018, players flooded the virtual reality game "VRChat" with avatars depicting "Ugandan Knuckles", a deformed version of Knuckles the Echidna. The character stemmed from a 2017 review of "Sonic Lost World" by YouTube user Gregzilla, as well as fans of "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds" streamer Forsen, who often reference the African country Uganda. The Ugandan Knuckles meme was controversial for its perceived racial insensitivity, and the creator of the avatar expressed regret over how it was used. In response, the "Sonic" Twitter account encouraged players to respect others and donate to a Ugandan charity through GlobalGiving.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog

text: The "sonic hedgehog" gene, first identified for its role in fruit fly embryonic development, was named after Sonic. Robert Riddle, then a postdoctoral fellow at the Tabin Lab, came up with the name after his wife bought a magazine containing an advert for "Sonic". A mutation in the gene causes fly larvae to bear spiky denticles, reminiscent of Sonic.


title: Peter Jackson

text: Sir Peter Robert Jackson (born 31 October 1961) is a New Zealand film director, screenwriter and producer. He is best known as the director, writer and producer of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy (2001–2003) and the "Hobbit" trilogy (2012–2014), both of which are adapted from the novels of the same name by J. R. R. Tolkien. Other notable films include the critically lauded drama "Heavenly Creatures" (1994), the horror comedy "The Frighteners" (1996), the epic monster remake film "King Kong" (2005), the World War I documentary film "They Shall Not Grow Old" (2018) and the documentary "" (2021). He is the third-highest-grossing film director of all-time, his films having made over $6.5 billion worldwide.


title: Peter Jackson

text: Jackson began his career with the "splatstick" horror comedy "Bad Taste" (1987) and the black comedy "Meet the Feebles" (1989) before filming the zombie comedy "Braindead" (1992). He shared a nomination for Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay with his partner Fran Walsh for "Heavenly Creatures", which brought him to mainstream prominence in the film industry. Jackson has been awarded three Academy Awards for "" (2003), including the award for Best Director. His other awards include three BAFTAs, a Golden Globe, two Primetime Emmy Awards and four Saturn Awards among others.


title: Peter Jackson

text: His production company is WingNut Films, and his most regular collaborators are co-writers and producers Walsh and Philippa Boyens. Jackson was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2002. He was later knighted (as a Knight Companion of the order) by Sir Anand Satyanand, the Governor-General of New Zealand, at a ceremony in Wellington in April 2010. In December 2014, Jackson was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.


title: Peter Jackson

text: and was raised in its far northern suburb of Pukerua Bay. His parents – Joan ("née" Ruck), a factory worker and housewife, and William "Bill" Jackson, a wages clerk – were emigrants from England.


title: Peter Jackson

text: As a child, Jackson was a keen film fan, growing up on Ray Harryhausen films, as well as finding inspiration in the television series "Thunderbirds" and "Monty Python's Flying Circus". After a family friend gave the Jacksons a Super 8 cine-camera with Peter in mind, he began making short films with his friends. Jackson has long cited "King Kong" as his favourite film, and around the age of nine he attempted to remake it using his own stop-motion models. Also, as a child Jackson made a World War II epic called "The Dwarf Patrol" seen on the "Bad Taste" bonus disc, which featured his first special effect of poking pinholes in the film for gun shots, and a James Bond spoof named "Coldfinger". Most notable though was a 20-minute short called "The Valley", which won him a special prize because of the shots he used.


title: Peter Jackson

text: In school, Jackson expressed no interest in sports. His classmates also remember him wearing a duffel coat with "an obsession verging on religious". He had no formal training in film-making, but learned about editing, special effects and make-up largely through his own trial and error. As a young adult, Jackson discovered the work of author J. R. R. Tolkien after watching "The Lord of the Rings" (1978), an animated film by Ralph Bakshi that was a part-adaptation of Tolkien's fantasy trilogy. When he was 16 years old, Jackson left school and began working full-time as a photo-engraver for a Wellington newspaper, "The Evening Post". For the seven years he worked there, Jackson lived at home with his parents so he could save as much money as possible to spend on film equipment. After two years of work Jackson bought a 16 mm camera, and began shooting a film that later became "Bad Taste".


title: Peter Jackson

text: Jackson has long cited several films as influences. It is well known that Jackson has a passion for "King Kong", often citing it as his favourite film and as the film that inspired him early in his life. Jackson recalls attempting to remake "King Kong" when he was nine. At the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con International, while being interviewed alongside "Avatar" and "Titanic" director James Cameron, Jackson said certain films gave him a "kick". He mentioned Martin Scorsese's crime films "Goodfellas" and "Casino", remarking on "something about those particular movies and the way Martin Scorsese just fearlessly rockets his camera around and has shot those films that I can watch those movies and feel inspired." Jackson said the 1970 film "Waterloo" inspired him in his youth. Other influences include George Romero, Sam Raimi and the special effects by Ray Harryhausen.


title: Peter Jackson

text: Jackson's first feature was "Bad Taste", a haphazard fashion splatter comedy which took years to make, it included many of Jackson's friends acting and working on it for free. Shooting was normally done in the weekends since Jackson was then working full-time. "Bad Taste" is about aliens that come to earth with the intention of turning humans into food. Jackson had two acting roles including a famous scene in which he fights himself on top of a cliff. The film was finally completed thanks to a late injection of finance from the New Zealand Film Commission, after Jim Booth, the body's executive director, became convinced of Jackson's talent (Booth later left the commission to become Jackson's producer). "Bad Taste" debuted at the Cannes Film Festival in May 1987.


title: Peter Jackson

text: Around this time, Jackson began working on writing a number of film scripts, in varied collaborative groupings with playwright Stephen Sinclair, writer Fran Walsh and writer/actor Danny Mulheron. Walsh would later become his life partner. Some of the scripts from this period, including a sequel to "A Nightmare on Elm Street", have never been made into movies; the proposed zombie film "Braindead" underwent extensive rewrites.


title: Peter Jackson

text: Jackson's next film to see release was "Meet the Feebles" (1989), co-written with Sinclair, Walsh and Mulheron. Begun on a very low budget, "Meet the Feebles" went weeks over schedule. Jackson stated of his second feature-length film, "It's got a quality of humour that alienates a lot of people. It's very black, very satirical, very savage."


title: Peter Jackson

text: Released in 1994 after Jackson won a race to bring the story to the screen, "Heavenly Creatures" marked a major change for Jackson in terms of both style and tone. The real-life 1950s Parker–Hulme murder case, in which two teenage girls murdered one of their mothers, inspired the film. It was Fran Walsh that persuaded him that these events had the makings of a movie; Jackson has been quoted saying that the film "only got made" because of her enthusiasm for the subject matter. The film's fame coincided with the New Zealand media tracking down the real-life Juliet Hulme, who now writes books under the name Anne Perry. Melanie Lynskey and Kate Winslet played Parker and Hulme, respectively. "Heavenly Creatures" was critically acclaimed and was nominated for Best Original Screenplay at the Academy Awards and making top ten of the year lists in "Time", "The Guardian", "The Sydney Morning Herald", and "The New Zealand Herald".


title: Peter Jackson

text: The following year, in collaboration with Wellington film-maker Costa Botes, Jackson co-directed the mockumentary "Forgotten Silver" (1995). This ambitious made-for-television piece told the story of New Zealand film pioneer Colin McKenzie, who had supposedly invented colour film and 'talkies', and attempted an epic film of "Salome" before being forgotten by the world. Though the programme played in a slot normally reserved for drama, no other warning was given that it was fictionalised and many viewers were outraged at discovering Colin McKenzie had never existed. The number of people who believed the increasingly improbable story provides testimony to Jackson and Botes' skill at playing on New Zealand's national myth of a nation of innovators and forgotten trail-blazers.


title: Peter Jackson

text: The success of "Heavenly Creatures" helped pave the way for Jackson's first big budget Hollywood film, "The Frighteners" starring Michael J. Fox, in 1996. Jackson was given permission to make this comedy / horror film entirely in New Zealand despite being set in a North American town. This period was a key one of change for both Jackson and Weta Workshop, the special effects company – born from the one-man contributions of George Port to "Heavenly Creatures" – with which Jackson is often associated.


title: Peter Jackson

text: Weta, initiated by Jackson and key collaborators, grew rapidly during this period to incorporate both digital and physical effects, make-up and costumes, the first two areas normally commanded by Jackson collaborator Richard Taylor.


title: Peter Jackson

text: "The Frighteners" was regarded as a box office failure. Film critic Roger Ebert expressed disappointment stating that "incredible effort has resulted in a film that looks more like a demo reel than a movie". In February 1997, Jackson launched legal proceedings against the "New Zealand Listener" magazine for defamation, over a review of "The Frighteners" which claimed that the film was "built from the rubble of other people's movies". In the end, the case was not pursued further. Around this time Jackson's remake of "King Kong" was shelved by Universal Studios, partly because of "Mighty Joe Young" and "Godzilla", both giant monster movies, that had already gone into production. Universal feared it would be thrown aside by the two higher budget movies.


title: Peter Jackson

text: This period of transition seems not to have been entirely a happy one; it also marked one of the high points of tension between Jackson and the New Zealand Film Commission since "Meet the Feebles" had gone over-budget earlier in his career. Jackson has claimed the Commission considered firing him from "Feebles", though the NZFC went on to help fund his next three films. In 1997, the director submitted a lengthy criticism of the commission for a magazine supplement meant to celebrate the body's 20th anniversary, criticising what he called inconsistent decision-making by inexperienced board members. The magazine felt that the material was too long and potentially defamatory to publish in that form; a shortened version of the material went on to appear in "Metro" magazine. In the "Metro" article Jackson criticized the Commission over funding decisions concerning a film he was hoping to executive produce, but refused to drop a client-confidentiality provision that would have allowed them to publicly reply to his criticisms.


title: Peter Jackson

text: Jackson won the rights to film Tolkien's epic in 1997 after meeting with producer Saul Zaentz. Originally working with Miramax Films towards a two-film production, Jackson was later pressured to render the story as a single film, and finally overcame a tight deadline by making a last-minute deal with New Line, who were keen on a trilogy.


title: Peter Jackson

text: Principal photography stretched from 11 October 1999 to 22 December 2000 with extensive location filming across New Zealand. With the benefit of extended post-production and extra periods of shooting before each film's release, the series met with huge success and sent Jackson's popularity soaring. "" itself met with huge critical acclaim, winning all eleven Oscars it was nominated for, including Best Picture and Best Director. The film was the first of the fantasy film genre to win the award for Best Picture and was the second sequel to win Best Picture (the first being "The Godfather Part II"). Jackson's mother, Joan, died three days before the release of the first movie in the trilogy, "". There was a special showing of the film after her funeral.


title: Peter Jackson

text: Universal Studios signed Jackson for a second time to remake the 1933 classic "King Kong". The film was released on 14 December 2005 to critical acclaim and grossed around US$562 million worldwide. He also collaborated with game designer Michel Ancel from Ubisoft to make a video game adaptation of the film, which released 21 November 2005 and was also a critical and commercial success.


title: Peter Jackson

text: In 2007, Jackson directed a short film entitled "Crossing the Line", to test a new model of digital cinema camera, the Red One. The film takes place during World War I, and was shot in two days. "Crossing the Line" was shown at NAB 2007 (the USA National Association of Broadcasters). Clips of the film can be found at Reduser.net.


title: Peter Jackson

text: Jackson completed an adaptation of Alice Sebold's bestseller, "The Lovely Bones", which was released in the United States on 11 December 2009. Jackson has said the film was a welcome relief from his larger-scale epics. The storyline's combination of fantasy aspects and themes of murder share some similarities with "Heavenly Creatures". The film ended up receiving generally mixed reviews and middling box office returns yet earned Stanley Tucci an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor nomination.


title: Peter Jackson

text: Jackson was one of three producers on "The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn", directed by Steven Spielberg and released in 2011. He is officially credited as producer but before he began working on "", helped Spielberg direct the film. Jamie Bell and Andy Serkis were cast due to their collaboration with Peter Jackson on "King Kong" and "The Lord of the Rings". Spielberg chose to work with Peter Jackson due to his work on the "Lord of the Rings" series, and knew Peter Jackson's company Weta Digital would make his vision a reality. It received positive reviews and grossed $374 million at the box office.


title: Peter Jackson

text: In December 2011, Spielberg said that a sequel was planned, but this time he would be in a producing role, with Jackson as director. Kathleen Kennedy said the script might be done by February or March 2012 and motion-captured in summer 2012, so that the movie would be on track to be released by Christmas 2014 or mid-2015. In February 2012, Spielberg said that a story outline for the sequel had been completed. In December 2012, Jackson said that the Tintin schedule was to shoot performance-capture in 2013, aiming for a release in 2015. On 12 March 2013, Spielberg said, "Don't hold me to it, but we're hoping the film will come out around Christmas-time in 2015. We know which books we're making, we can't share that now but we're combining two books which were always intended to be combined by Herge."


title: Peter Jackson

text: In December 2014, Peter Jackson said that the "Tintin" sequel would be made "at some point soon", although he intended to focus on directing two New Zealand films before that. The following year, Anthony Horowitz, who was hired as the sequel's screenwriter even before the release of the first film, stated that he was no longer working on the sequel, and was unsure if it was still being made. In June 2016, Spielberg confirmed that the sequel was still in development, but Jackson is working on a secret project in the meantime.


title: Peter Jackson

text: Jackson's involvement in the making of a film version of "The Hobbit" has a long and chequered history. In November 2006, a letter from Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh stated that due to an ongoing legal dispute between Wingnut Films (Jackson's production company) and New Line Cinema, Jackson would not be directing the film. New Line Cinema's head Robert Shaye commented that Jackson "... will never make any movie with New Line Cinema again while I'm still working at the company ...". This prompted an online call for a boycott of New Line Cinema, and by August 2007 Shaye was trying to repair his working relationship. On 18 December 2007, it was announced that Jackson and New Line Cinema had reached agreement to make two prequels, both based on "The Hobbit", and to be released in 2012 and 2013 with Jackson as a writer and executive producer and Guillermo del Toro directing.


title: Peter Jackson

text: In early 2010, del Toro dropped out due to production delays and a month later Jackson was back in negotiations to direct "The Hobbit"; and on 15 October he was finalised as the director – with New Zealand confirmed as the location a couple of weeks later.


title: Peter Jackson

text: The film started production on 20 March 2011. On 30 July 2012, Jackson announced on his Facebook page that the two planned "Hobbit" movies would be expanded into a trilogy. He wrote that the third film would not act as a bridge between "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings" films, but would continue to expand "The Hobbit" story by using material found in the "Lord of the Rings Appendices".


title: Peter Jackson

text: On 16 October 2018, Jackson's documentary about the First World War, "They Shall Not Grow Old", was premiered as the Special Presentation at the BFI London Film Festival and followed by a question-and-answer session hosted by English film critic Mark Kermode. The film was created using original footage from Imperial War Museums' extensive archive, much of it previously unseen, alongside BBC and IWM interviews with servicemen who fought in the conflict. The majority of the footage (save for the start and end sections) has been colourised, converted to 3D and transformed with modern production techniques to present detail never seen before.


title: Peter Jackson

text: Before the screening, Jackson said, "This is not a story of the First World War, it is not a historical story, it may not even be entirely accurate but it's the memories of the men who fought – they're just giving their impressions of what it was like to be a soldier."


title: Peter Jackson

text: In late December 2009, Jackson announced his interest in a film adaptation of the novel "Mortal Engines". In October 2016, Jackson stated that the film would be his next project, as producer and co-writer, once again alongside Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens. The film was directed by his long-time collaborator Christian Rivers. It stars Robert Sheehan, Hera Hilmar, Hugo Weaving, Jihae, Leila George, Ronan Raftery, and Stephen Lang. It premiered on 27 November 2018 in London, received negative reviews and was a box-office bomb.


title: Peter Jackson

text: On 30 January 2019, the fiftieth anniversary of the Beatles' rooftop concert, which was the band's final performance, Jackson announced that his next directorial work would be a documentary about the making of their final album "Let It Be". In a process similar to his previous documentary project "They Shall Not Grow Old", this created around "55 hours of never-before-seen footage and 140 hours of audio made available to [Jackson's team]", which are "the only footage of any note that documents them at work in the studio". The documentary used the techniques developed for "They Shall Not Grow Old" to transform the footage with modern production techniques, and seeks to display a new side of a period in the Beatles' history usually remembered as highly conflictual. Most of the used footage was originally recorded for the 1970 "Let It Be" documentary.


title: Peter Jackson

text: Clare Olssen and Jabez Olssen, respectively producer and editor of "They Shall Not Grow Old", returned for this new project, with Ken Kamins, Jeff Jones and Jonathan Clyde as executive producers. The project was made with "the full co-operation" of Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, the last two living Beatles, as well as John Lennon and George Harrison's widows Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison. The film includes the full 42-minute last rooftop concert.


title: Peter Jackson

text: In March 2020, Walt Disney Studios announced they had acquired the worldwide distribution rights to Jackson's documentary, now titled "The Beatles: Get Back". It was originally set to be released by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures on 27 August 2021 in the US and Canada with a subsequent global release to follow. In June 2021, it was announced that it would be released on Disney+ as a three-part documentary series on 25, 26 and 27 November 2021. The documentary was released to mostly favorable reviews. It has a score of 93 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and a metascore of 85 on Metacritic.


title: Peter Jackson

text: Jackson was set to make games with Microsoft Game Studios, a partnership announced on 27 September 2006, at X06. Specifically, Jackson and Microsoft were teaming together to form a new studio called Wingnut Interactive. In collaboration with Bungie, he was to co-write, co-design and co-produce a new game taking place in the Halo universe – tentatively called "". On 27 July 2009, in an interview about his new movie (as producer) "District 9", he announced that "" had been cancelled, while Microsoft confirmed that the game is "on hold". In July 2009 Jackson's game studio Wingnut Interactive were said to be at work on original intellectual property. As of July 2022, there are no games released nor developed by Wingnut Interactive.


title: Peter Jackson

text: In 2006, Jackson gave NZ$500,000 to embryonic stem cell research. He purchased a church in the Wellington suburb of Seatoun for $1.06 million, saving it from demolition. He also contributes his expertise to 48HOURS, a New Zealand film-making competition, through annually selecting 3 "Wildcards" for the National Final.


title: Peter Jackson

text: Jackson, a World War I aviation enthusiast, is chair of the 14–18 Aviation Heritage Trust. He donated his services and provided replica aircraft to create a 10-minute multimedia display called "Over the Front" for the Australian War Memorial in 2008. He contributed to the defense fund for the West Memphis Three. In 2011, Jackson and Walsh purchased 1 Kent Terrace, the home of BATS Theatre in Wellington, effectively securing the theatre's future.


title: Peter Jackson

text: In 2012 Jackson supported the American Red Cross "Zombie Blood Drive" together with other famous artists such as The Black Keys band members and the cast of the show "The Walking Dead".


title: Peter Jackson

text: In 2009, he purchased a Gulfstream G550 jet registered ZK-KFB; his total net worth is estimated by "National Business Review" at NZ$450 million. In early 2014 he replaced his Gulfstream G550, with a Gulfstream G650 also registered ZK-KFB. In April 2014, the aircraft was used in the search for MH370. The aircraft has subsequently been sold. Jackson owns an aircraft restoration and manufacturing company, The Vintage Aviator (based in Kilbirnie, Wellington, and at the Hood Aerodrome, Masterton), which is dedicated to World War I and World War II fighter planes among other planes from the 1920s and 1930s. He is chairman of the Omaka Aviation Heritage Trust, which hosts a biennial air show.


title: Peter Jackson

text: He owns a scale modeling company Wingnut Wings that specializes in World War I subjects. Wingnut Wings however closed in March 2020 with the ultimate fate of the company and its moulds not yet known.


title: Peter Jackson

text: Jackson is known for his attention to detail, a habit of shooting scenes from many angles, a macabre sense of humour, and a general playfulness – the latter to a point that "The Lord of the Rings" conceptual designer Alan Lee jokingly remarked, "the film is almost incidental really".


title: Peter Jackson

text: Jackson was a noted perfectionist on the "Lord of the Rings" shoot, where he demanded numerous takes of scenes, requesting additional takes by repeatedly saying, "one more for luck". Jackson is also renowned within the New Zealand film industry for his insistence on "coverage" – shooting a scene from as many angles as possible, giving him more options during editing. Jackson has been known to spend days shooting a single scene. This is evident in his work where even scenes featuring simple conversations often feature a wide array of multiple camera angles and shot-sizes as well as zooming closeups on characters' faces. One of his most common visual trademarks is shooting close-ups of actors with wide-angle lenses. He was an early user of computer enhancement technology and provided digital special effects to a number of Hollywood films.


title: Peter Jackson

text: Jackson is one of the lead actors in two of his films: in "Bad Taste", he plays two characters named Derek and Robert, even engaging them both in a fight. In the mockumentary "Forgotten Silver", he plays himself.


title: Peter Jackson

text: However, he appears in most films he directs, mostly in cameos, just as director Alfred Hitchcock had done:


title: Peter Jackson

text: He has also made cameos in several films not directed by him. In the opening sequence of "Hot Fuzz" (2007), he played a demented man dressed as Father Christmas, who stabs Nicholas Angel (played by Simon Pegg) in the hand.


title: Peter Jackson

text: Jackson's eldest son, Billy (born 1995), has made cameo appearances in almost every one of his father's films since his birth, namely "The Frighteners", "The Lord of the Rings" film trilogy, "King Kong", "The Lovely Bones", and the third film of "The Hobbit" trilogy. His daughter, Katie (born 1996), appears in all the above films except "The Frighteners". And partner Fran Walsh makes a short cameo in "The Frighteners" as a woman walking next to Cyrus and Stuar just prior the scene featuring their son Billy.


title: Peter Jackson

text: Jackson had a cameo on the HBO show "Entourage" on 5 August 2007 episode, "Gary's Desk", in which he offers a business proposal to Eric Murphy, manager to the lead character, Vincent Chase.


title: Peter Jackson

text: Jackson appears as himself in the 2013 "Doctor Who" 50th anniversary spoof "The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot", alongside Sir Ian McKellen.


title: Peter Jackson

text: Jackson and his partner, Dame Fran Walsh, a New Zealand screenwriter, film producer, and lyricist, have two children, Billy (born 1995) and Katie (born 1996). Walsh has contributed to all of Jackson's films since 1989, as co-writer since "Meet the Feebles", and as producer since "". She won three Academy Awards in 2003, for Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Original Song, all for "". She has received seven Oscar nominations.


title: Peter Jackson

text: Jackson is an avid aviation enthusiast and owns a collection of over 40 airworthy World War I-era warbirds housed at Hood Aerodrome near Masterton, and a Gulfstream G650 in Wellington. He is also interested in building scale models and owns a company that makes models of World War I aircraft. Wingnut Wings, his model making company, has stopped producing kits as of 2020; however, the future of the company is unknown.


title: Peter Jackson

text: As well as this, Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre presents the Knights of the Sky exhibition, featuring Jackson's own collection of WW1 aircraft and artifacts. This story of aviation in the Great War is brought to life in sets created by the internationally acclaimed talent of WingNut Films and Weta Workshop.


title: Peter Jackson

text: Jackson received some criticism during the 2019 Wellington City Council Elections, with his support for then-city councilor Andy Foster. Foster won the election against then incumbent mayor Justin Lester by 62 votes, with critics noting Jackson's public support and $300,000 of funding to Foster's election campaign being pivotal for Foster's victory. Both Jackson and Foster had criticized the previous city council's decision to support property development at Shelly Bay.


title: Peter Jackson

text: Since 1994's "Heavenly Creatures" Peter Jackson's films have enjoyed success in the annual awards season, earning many nominations and winning several awards; "The Frighteners" being his only fictional directed effort since 1994 not to be nominated for an Academy Award. The "Lord of the Rings" trilogy is one of the most successful trilogies of all time in terms of awards, winning more Academy Awards than the Francis Ford Coppola directed "Godfather Trilogy", with 2003's "The Return of the King" winning in all 11 categories for which it was nominated including Best Picture, Director and Adapted Screenplay. Jackson's films have fared extremely well in the technical categories as well as the major categories; all three "Lord of the Rings" pictures as well as "King Kong" won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects in their respective years. In total Jackson's directed efforts have been the most awarded films at three separate Academy Award ceremonies, the 74th, 76th, and 78th.


title: Peter Jackson

text: In the 2002 New Year Honours, Jackson was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to film. In the 2010 New Year Honours, he was promoted to Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, also for services to film. The investiture ceremony took place at Premier House in Wellington on 28 April 2010.


title: Peter Jackson

text: In 2006, Jackson received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement. His Golden Plate was presented by Awards Council member Steven Spielberg.


title: Peter Jackson

text: In the 2012 Queen's Birthday and Diamond Jubilee Honours, Jackson was appointed a Member of the Order of New Zealand, New Zealand's highest civilian honour.


title: The Fabelmans

text: The Fabelmans is a 2022 American coming-of-age drama film directed by Steven Spielberg and written and produced by Tony Kushner and Spielberg. It is a semi-autobiographical story loosely based on Spielberg's adolescence and first years as a filmmaker, told through an original story of the fictional Sammy Fabelman, a young aspiring filmmaker himself who explores how the power of films can help him see the truth about his dysfunctional family and those around him. The film features an ensemble cast that includes Gabriel LaBelle as Sammy, with Michelle Williams, Paul Dano, Seth Rogen, and Judd Hirsch in supporting roles. The film is dedicated to the memories of Spielberg's real-life parents Leah Adler and Arnold Spielberg, who died in 2017 and 2020, respectively.


title: The Fabelmans

text: The film was produced by Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment, in association with Reliance Entertainment. Spielberg had conceived the project with his sister Anne as early as 1999, writing a screenplay titled "I'll Be Home". He had reservations about exploring his family's story because of concerns that his parents would be hurt, and the project was withheld. Spielberg revisited the project with screenwriter and frequent collaborator Tony Kushner in 2019 while they were making "West Side Story", and completed the screenplay by the end of 2020. Development on the film officially began soon after, with casting taking place between March and May 2021. Principal photography began that July in Los Angeles, and wrapped in September.


title: The Fabelmans

text: "The Fabelmans" had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 10, 2022, where it won the People's Choice Award. It began a limited theatrical release in the United States on November 11, 2022, and expanded on November 23, by Universal Pictures. The film received acclaim from critics for the performances of the cast, Spielberg's direction, the screenplay, cinematography, and John Williams' musical score. It was named one of the top ten films of 2022 by the National Board of Review and the American Film Institute, being the second consecutive film directed by Spielberg to receive these honors after "West Side Story". Despite the positive reviews, the film was a box office disappointment, grossing $8.8 million on a $40 million budget.


title: The Fabelmans

text: The film received five nominations at the 80th Golden Globe Awards, including Best Motion Picture – Drama and Best Director for Spielberg, and 11 nominations at the 28th Critics' Choice Awards, including Best Picture.


title: The Fabelmans

text: In 1952 Haddon Township, New Jersey, Jewish couple Mitzi and Burt Fabelman take their young son Sammy to see his first film: Cecil B. DeMille's "The Greatest Show on Earth". Dazzled by a scene involving a train crash, Sammy asks for a model set for Hanukkah, which he crashes late one night. Mitzi, understanding Sammy's intentions, allows him to shoot another crash scene using Burt's 8mm camera. Sammy soon begins filming regularly, sometimes involving his younger sisters Reggie, Natalie, and Lisa in his shoots. After Burt receives a new job, he and the family, along with his best friend and business partner Bennie Loewy, move to Phoenix, Arizona in early 1957.


title: The Fabelmans

text: Years later, a now-teenage Sammy continues making films with his friends in a Boy Scout troop, during which he begins utilizing post-production effects and subsequently earns a badge in photography. Later, the Fabelmans, including Bennie, take a camping trip with Sammy capturing footage of their vacation. Shortly afterward, Mitzi's mother dies, leaving her especially distraught. Providing him with enough film editing equipment, Burt recommends that Sammy should turn the camping trip footage into a film in an effort to cheer Mitzi up. Sammy objects over the scheduling of his next film, but Burt, who sees Sammy's passion for film as nothing more than a hobby, argues that the home video is more important.


title: The Fabelmans

text: The next morning, the Fabelmans get a surprise visit from Mitzi's uncle Boris, a former lion tamer and film worker. That night, he speaks with Sammy about compromising his family with his art, telling him that both aspects will continue to be at odds with one another. After Boris leaves, Sammy begins editing the camping trip film, during which he notices evidence of Mitzi and Bennie having feelings for each other, leaving him angry. After weeks of harsh treatment toward her and Bennie, Sammy and Mitzi have a heated argument, during which she slaps him across the back, bruising him. Distraught, Sammy shows Mitzi the compiled footage, though he promises to keep it a secret between them.


title: The Fabelmans

text: Burt receives a promotion from work, requiring his family to move with him to Saratoga, California. In order to keep their marriage intact, Bennie stays in Phoenix, but not before gifting Sammy a new film camera, which he promises never to use. Soon after arriving in his new neighborhood and school, Sammy becomes targeted by students Logan and Chad, who levy anti-Semitic abuse toward him. Sammy also begins dating the devoutly-Christian Monica. While having dinner with the Fabelmans, Monica suggests that Sammy film their Ditch Day at the beach, something Sammy considers and eventually accepts to do after Monica tells him her dad owns a 16mm camera that he'd let him use.


title: The Fabelmans

text: After finally moving from a rental to their newly-purchased home, Mitzi and Burt announce their divorce due to the discovery of Mitzi's adulterous affair by Sammy, leaving the family heartbroken. At prom, Sammy declares his love for Monica and asks her to come with him to Hollywood after high school. Unable to throw away her own life's plans to attend Texas A&M University, Monica breaks up with him. Meanwhile, the Senior Skip Day film is played in front of Sammy's peers, where it receives a rapturous response, seemingly praising Logan and vilifying Chad. Logan confronts Sammy, confused over his positive portrayal in the film, but the two reach an understanding when Chad attacks Sammy and Logan fights Chad off. The next morning, Mitzi and Sammy talk about their future together; just like Mitzi cannot give up her love for Bennie, she tells Sammy not to give up his love for filmmaking.


title: The Fabelmans

text: The following year, Sammy is living with Burt in Hollywood. Unable to find work in the field, Sammy considers dropping out of college, but Burt, begrudgingly accepting his son's passion after seeing a photograph of Mitzi and Bennie together, tells him to keep on his path if it makes him happy. Sammy finally receives a letter from CBS, who offer him work on the sitcom "Hogan's Heroes". Knowing that Sammy is more interested in filmmaking, a network executive invites Sammy to meet film director John Ford, one of his greatest filmmaking influences, who offers Sammy some brief pointers about framing. Newly invigorated, Sammy walks through the studio backlot as the camera re-frames the horizon, echoing Ford's advice.


title: The Fabelmans

text: In 1999, Steven Spielberg said he had been thinking of directing a film about his childhood for some time. Titled "I'll Be Home", the project was originally written by his sister Anne Spielberg. He explained, "My big fear is that my mom and dad won't like it and will think it's an insult and won't share my loving yet critical point of view about what it was like to grow up with them." In 2002, Spielberg said he was nervous about making "I'll Be Home": "It's so close to my life and so close to my family – I prefer to make films that are more analogous. But a literal story about my family will take a lot of courage. I still think I make personal movies even if they do look like big commercial popcorn films." Spielberg later revealed in November 2022 that his parents had also been "nagging" him to make a film about their lives prior to their deaths.


title: The Fabelmans

text: In 2004, while working on "Munich", Spielberg told screenwriter Tony Kushner his life story, with Kushner telling him in response: "Someday you’re going to have to make a film about this." Coincidentally, a line referencing Spielberg appears in Kushner's play "Angels in America". The 80–90 page plot outline for "The Fabelmans" was worked on in 2019 during filming of Spielberg's 2021 film version of "West Side Story". Work on the screenplay for "The Fabelmans" began on October 2, 2020, during the lockdowns caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and lasted for two months, ending in December 2020. Kushner reflected on the experience, saying, "We wrote three days a week, four hours a day, and we finished the script in two months: by leagues the fastest I've finished anything. It was a blast. I loved it." Spielberg, at that time, felt that the climate caused by the pandemic convinced him that the time was now right to make the film, saying, "I started seriously thinking, if I had to make one movie I haven't made yet, something that I really want to do on a very personally atomic level, what would that be? And there was only one story I really wanted to tell ... My life with my mom and dad taught me a lesson, which I hope this film in a small way imparts ... Which is, when does a young person in a family start to see his parents as human beings? In my case, because of what happened between the ages of 7 and 18, I started to appreciate my mom and dad not as parents but as real people." He gave drafts of the script to his sisters, Sue and Nancy, to ensure that their memories be included in the story and that the details in the film were portrayed as accurately as possible.


title: The Fabelmans

text: On the meaning behind the family name "Fabelman", Kushner (who came up with that name) said, "Spielberg means play-mountain; 'spieler' is an actor in Yiddish, and a 'spiel' can be speech or can be a play ... I wanted to have some of that meaning, and I’ve always liked the German word 'fabel,' which means fable. And because the movie is autobiographical for Steven but it isn’t an autobiography, it’s not a documentary, so there’s a fictional element as well. So I thought that ‘Fabelman’ was a nod to that."


title: The Fabelmans

text: In March 2021, Spielberg was announced to direct the film, with his involvement as co-screenwriter marking his first writing venture on a film since "A.I. Artificial Intelligence" (2001); it was also reported that Kristie Macosko Krieger would produce the film with Kushner and Spielberg. In March 2022, cinematographer Janusz Kamiński said the film would chronicle Spielberg's life from age seven to eighteen and deal with "his family, with his parents, conundrums with his sisters, but primarily deals with his passion for movie-making," while adding that it will touch on the themes of "young love, parental divorce, and early formative relationships ... It's a very beautiful, beautiful personal movie. It's very revealing about Steven's life and who he is as a filmmaker." In September 2022, Spielberg expressed how personal the film was to him, saying that "This film is, for me, a way of bringing my mom and dad back. And it also brought my sisters, Annie, Susie, and Nancy, closer to me than I ever thought possible. And that was worth making the film."


title: The Fabelmans

text: In casting the film, Spielberg explained that "Part of it had to be organic, and it had to be authentic to me. It wasn't really about anything beyond who can I have the most profound connection with and that reminds me the most of the people that brought me into the world and raised me and gave me good values." In March 2021, Michelle Williams was in negotiations to star as Mitzi Fabelman, the role inspired by Spielberg's mother Leah Adler, but with "an original voice." Spielberg himself had her in mind for the role after watching her performance in "Blue Valentine" (2010). That same month, it was reported that Seth Rogen joined the cast to play Bennie Loewy, the role inspired by Bernie Adler, "the favorite uncle of young Spielberg", while Williams was confirmed to have been cast. On April 8, 2021, Paul Dano joined the cast as Burt Fabelman, the role inspired by Spielberg's father Arnold. Dano admitted that he felt intimidated by playing the role because "the stakes felt really high ... You're embodying one of the most important, influential, complicated figures in [Spielberg's] life. It was incredible to see how much of this was in his work the whole time. He's sharing a piece of himself that I find very moving. There's a real gift in it, when somebody of that stature and at that level of artistry is willing to do that."


title: The Fabelmans

text: In May 2021, after a three-month search and over 2,000 contenders, Gabriel LaBelle entered final negotiations to portray the lead role, Sammy Fabelman, a young aspiring filmmaker based on Spielberg himself. He would be confirmed the next month in addition to the casting of Julia Butters as Reggie Fabelman, the role inspired by Spielberg's sister Anne. Later that June, Sam Rechner was cast as well. In July, Chloe East, Oakes Fegley, Isabelle Kusman, Jeannie Berlin, Judd Hirsch, Robin Bartlett and Jonathan Hadary were added to the cast, the latter of whom ultimately having his scenes cut from the final film. In August, Gabriel Bateman, Nicolas Cantu, Gustavo Escobar, Lane Factor, Cooper Dodson and Stephen Matthew Smith were cast. They were later followed by newcomers Keeley Karsten, Birdie Borria, Alina Brace, Sophia Kopera, and Mateo Zoryon Francis-DeFord. In February 2022, it was announced David Lynch would also star in a then-undisclosed role, later revealed to be that of film director John Ford. During the Q&A at an Academy Award-qualifying screening for the film on November 7, 2022, Spielberg revealed that it took three weeks to convince Lynch to be a part of the film, with Tony Kushner's husband Mark Harris taking credit for suggesting Lynch to Spielberg, and Laura Dern calling Lynch numerous times to get him to commit. In response, Lynch said he would take it as long as there were bags of Cheetos on set as refreshments. He also requested that he be given his costume as Ford a week before filming his scene to break it in.


title: The Fabelmans

text: In September 2022, during the film's world premiere, LaBelle revealed that he initially did not win the part of Sammy following his first audition but did upon receiving a callback three months afterward. On finally reading the script and learning the details about his character being a fictionalized version of Spielberg himself as a teenager for mostly the entire film, he recalled "When I was auditioning, the character's name was Teenage Sammy – I thought as opposed to Adult Sammy ... I get the script and you're reading it for 30 pages and he's 6 and 8 years old. Page 35 or so Teenage Sammy comes along. OK, good! Now this is my part. It's going to be a three-act movie, it's going to be a "Moonlight" or something. I kept waiting for my exit but it never came." Spielberg himself revealed that the role of Sammy was the hardest to cast, saying "As a kid growing up, I always had a lot of reasons why I was always in the corner, why I was always not the center of conversation ... I needed someone who wasn't going to bring too much self-awareness to Sammy." Upon casting LaBelle, casting director Cindy Tolan said "With Gabe, there was a poignancy. He could convey the pathos that was needed and also the humor," while Spielberg added "I wasn't looking for what I see in the mirror, I was looking for a young actor who could carry a lot of story by being curious and honest and engaging and unpredictable."


title: The Fabelmans

text: Principal photography began in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic in Los Angeles on July 17, 2021, lasting for 59 days until ending on September 27, 2021.


title: The Fabelmans

text: During the shoot, the cast gained access to home movies, photographs and recollections from Spielberg's family's past to learn what they were like and how to portray the fictionalized versions of them (the Fabelman family) on screen, while making them feel fresh and original. Paul Dano reflected "It was overwhelming and it was sort of a heavy cloak to bear because we were with someone who was having a big experience everyday, revisiting and reworking through a part of their life ... For somebody like Steven to share that much of himself with us – with the audience too – it was really a profound experience." In addition, Dano ordered and built a crystal radio set to get the feeling of how Arnold Spielberg had around electronics. Seth Rogen described the experience as "emotional" and recalled that Spielberg was "...crying a lot on set ... As we were shooting, I'd be like, 'Did this happen in real life?' and the answer was 'yes' a hundred percent of the time." Gabriel LaBelle also rewatched some of Spielberg's films, such as "Empire of the Sun" (1987) and constantly had conversations with Spielberg to learn more about his life in order to prepare for playing Sammy. The jewelry that Michelle Williams wore as part of the costumes for Mitzi Fabelman were in fact some of Leah Adler's, including a charm bracelet that had pictures of all four of her children. According to an interview she did for the "Hollywood Insider" at the TIFF premiere, Julia Butters was gifted with Anne Spielberg's high school ring to wear while she played Reggie Fabelman.


title: The Fabelmans

text: For the scenes of Sammy filming his own 8mm films, Spielberg decided to have the character recreate the exact ones he made during his childhood, and worked with Kamiński to ensure that they were portrayed as accurately as possible, but with improvements in the camera angles. Spielberg remarked "It was joyful being able to recreate those films ... I shot a lot of films when I was a kid on 8mm. It was unique in those days. Not a lot of people were going out and shooting in 8mm. It was physical; it was a craft. You had to sit there with a…splicer, and then you had to scrape the emulsion off the film in order to get a seal so when you put glue on it, you literally glued the film together. And I must say, I miss it." Gabriel LaBelle's first two days on set involved a scene where Sammy and his friends film a recreation of Spielberg's World War II short film "Escape to Nowhere" (1961). On the experience, LaBelle remarked "It was a cool way to see how Steven walked and moved around back then ... I asked so many questions about "Saving Private Ryan", because we were doing a war film. For the first two days, it was me, Steven, Tony, and Janusz, just hanging out. Mitch Dubin, the A-camera operator, stormed the beaches of Normandy with a handheld camera for "Saving Private Ryan" – and now he's making this movie!"


title: The Fabelmans

text: The 8mm and 16mm camera props used in the film had real film inside them, with LaBelle being taught how to use the cameras so that what was shot with them on set can be developed for usage in the film, as well as how to cut and splice film stock using the editing machines and film projectors of the time period. LaBelle was unaware of the casting of David Lynch as John Ford until the day the scene he had to do with him was filmed. He recalled that once Lynch came onto the set, it enabled him to embody Sammy and how he was feeling, recalling "[Lynch is] a great guy. But leading up to it, Sammy's nervous, so I'm getting nervous." The scene itself was written to historically match how the actual real-life encounter between Spielberg and Ford went down, with the latter's dialogue written exactly word-for-word, most notably Ford's advice to Sammy about framing: "When the horizon is at the top, it's interesting. When it's on the bottom, it's interesting. When it's in the middle, it's boring as shit!" The scene itself was received positively by critics and audiences and won the award for Best Scene at the 2022 St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Awards.


title: The Fabelmans

text: Judd Hirsch's couple of days on set involved filming a major monologue that his character Uncle Boris, inspired by Spielberg's real great uncle of the same name, gives to Sammy to inspire him to continue pursuing his ambitions, while also warning him of the consequences that come with it. Hirsch compared his character to "a seer from Greek mythology, a soothsayer used by the gods to communicate with mortals." On acting alongside Gabriel LaBelle for the scene, he told "Vanity Fair" in November 2022 that on set "When I looked at it [the script] and I met Gabriel, I said, I’m gonna "destroy" this boy ... My part is to tell him that horrible things are gonna happen to him—even though it has to happen. So I walked out of there and I said, Who the hell am I...some oracle? You know, an oracle comes and stands in his room and takes him apart and tells him he has to be a director." Hirsch's performance and the monologue itself were met with acclaim from critics and viewers, which resulted in a huge round of applause from the audience during the TIFF world premiere.


title: The Fabelmans

text: To recreate the three houses that Spielberg lived in during his childhood in Haddon Township, New Jersey, Phoenix, Arizona, and Northern California, production designer Rick Carter worked off floor plans that the director sketched from memory and then took artistic license with the spaces to fit the emotional mindset of Sammy. More attention was paid to the set in Phoenix, "...because, as a filmmaker, he became more himself. So not only the equipment that was there is accurate, but all the storyboards that Sammy used to make his movies. And Steven drew all the storyboards, and he still draws his storyboards the way he did as a teenager." Carter and set decorator Karen O'Hara also worked off photos and memories that Spielberg and his three sisters provided. All of the houses were built on soundstages.


title: The Fabelmans

text: The score was composed and conducted by John Williams, marking his 29th film collaboration with Spielberg and the 50th anniversary of their first film. On June 23, 2022, Williams revealed that this and "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny" may be the last two films he will score before retirement. Recording of the score began in March 2022, following Williams's concert performance with the Vienna Philharmonic at Vienna's Musikverein. In July, stills from the recording sessions were revealed by one of the film's crew members, revealing that scoring of the film is underway. Along with his usual orchestral style, Williams opted for a score mostly relying on piano, with Joanne Pearce Martin, principal pianist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, providing the piano solos. The film also features source classical music selected by Spielberg himself, some of which are performed on piano in the film by the character of Mitzi Fabelman, from composers such as Friedrich Kuhlau, Muzio Clementi, Johann Sebastian Bach and Joseph Haydn. The film's soundtrack was released digitally by Sony Classical on November 11, 2022 and was released on physical CD on December 9, 2022. The film also features pop songs of the film's time period which are not featured on the soundtrack album, such as "Walk On By" by Dionne Warwick and "Goodbye Cruel World" by James Darren.


title: The Fabelmans

text: "The Fabelmans" was sneak previewed on July 26, 2022, in Nanuet, New York. It had its world premiere at the Princess of Wales Theatre during the Toronto International Film Festival on September 10, 2022, where it received two standing ovations from the audience, one before the film when Spielberg took the stage to introduce it, and a longer one preceding the post-film Q&A. The crowd was also reported to have been loudly chanting Spielberg's name while outside waiting to get into the theater during the red carpet arrivals. On the announcement of the premiere, TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey remarked: "It's different from a typical Spielberg blockbuster, but it is just as easily impactful in terms of the emotional effect it's going to have on people. If you love movies, this is going to be a very powerful film for you to watch. I'm excited that it's launching in an environment that celebrates cinema." Upon winning the festival's People's Choice Award, Spielberg remarked "I'm glad I brought this film to Toronto! This is the most personal film I've ever made, and the warm reception from everyone in Toronto made my first visit to TIFF so intimate and personal for me and my entire Fabelman family ... a very special thank you to all the movie fans in Toronto who have made this past weekend one I'll never forget." For his performance, Gabriel LaBelle was also named a 2022 TIFF Rising Star.


title: The Fabelmans

text: It held its European premiere at the Rome Film Festival on October 19, 2022, which was followed by its United States premiere at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles on November 6, 2022, as the closing night film of the 2022 AFI Fest. It also closed the Miami International Film Festival on November 10, 2022, with Paul Dano virtually receiving the festival's Precious Gem Award. The French premiere took place at the Lumière Film Festival on October 18, 2022. It also screened as the opening night film of the 20th Morelia International Film Festival on October 23, 2022, the 63rd Thessaloniki International Film Festival on November 3, 2022, and the 44th Cairo International Film Festival on November 13, 2022. It also opened the 15th edition of "The Contenders" film series at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City on November 10, 2022, followed by a conversation with the cast.


title: The Fabelmans

text: "The Fabelmans" was released by Universal Pictures in select theaters in Los Angeles and New York City on November 11, 2022, with a nationwide release on November 23 in the United States. It became Spielberg's first film to be distributed by Universal, since "Munich" (2005). Universal Pictures is also distributing the film internationally, with some exceptions: Entertainment One is distributing the film in the United Kingdom, StudioCanal Australia is distributing the film in Australia, Leone Film Group and 01 Distribution are co-distributing the film in Italy, and Nordisk Film is distributing the film in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Finland.


title: The Fabelmans

text: "The Fabelmans" was released on VOD on December 13, 2022. On its first day on VOD in the United States, the film debuted at #2 on iTunes, while also ranking #4 on Vudu at the end of its first week.


title: The Fabelmans

text: The poster to promote the film's world premiere at TIFF was released on September 7, 2022, with the official theatrical release version of it being released on September 29, 2022. The trailer premiered online on September 11, 2022. The music for the trailer was composed by Felix Erskine of Cavalry Music. Universal spent approximately $8.5 million on the film's advertising campaign. Another trailer was released on December 13, 2022.


title: The Fabelmans

text: In the United States, the film made $161,579 from four theaters in its opening weekend for an average of $40,395 per-screen, the third highest average for a Fall 2022 platform release, behind "Till" and "The Banshees of Inisherin". The film expanded alongside "", "Strange World", "Devotion", and the wide expansion of "Bones and All", and was projected to gross around $3–5 million from 638 theaters over the five-day weekend. "Variety" called the projections "a disappointing result for a $40 million movie, especially one that hails from the most successful director of his time" and compared the situation to the poor $38 million domestic box office returns of Spielberg's "West Side Story" the year before. It made $400,000 on its first day of wide release, with an additional $480,000 on Thanksgiving Day and $880,000 on Black Friday, resulting in a 5-day weekend total of $3.4 million.


title: The Fabelmans

text: After four weeks in theaters, Spielberg’s film grossed $6 million domestic, making it the worst financial performance ever for a Spielberg film, with the general public's trending lack of interest in prestige films, a muted reception from older audience demographics and the large decline in popularity of Spielberg and his filmography cited as the reasons.


title: The Fabelmans

text: Chris Evangelista of "/Film" called it "...one of Spielberg's warmest, funniest films" and highlighted Kamiński's cinematography. Steve Pond of "TheWrap" wrote "The film shows a light touch that doesn't detract from the very real depths that are being explored. That "The Fabelmans" is one of Steven Spielberg's most personal movies was never in doubt; that it's also one of his most original and most satisfying in years is a welcome bonus." Pete Hammond of "Deadline Hollywood" praised the performances of Williams, Dano, LaBelle and Butters, calling the former "gut-wrenchingly great," while saying that Dano was "terrific as the genuinely nice and loving father torn between following his own career and caring for his wife and family under increasingly difficult circumstances." He described LaBelle's performance as "sensational throughout, a young man with a love for movies, but tortured by growing pains and a family drifting apart." He also referred to David Lynch's cameo as being "worth the price of admission alone."


title: The Fabelmans

text: Ross Bonaime of "Collider" wrote "For decades, Spielberg has shown us ourselves through the magic of his movies, and with "The Fabelmans", he finally shows us who he is, the good and the bad, and pain and the joys, the magic and the mayhem." Peter Debruge of "Variety" named it the frontrunner for the Academy Award for Best Picture, while writing "...this endearing, broadly appealing account of how Spielberg was smitten by the medium – and why the prodigy nearly abandoned picture-making before his career even started – holds the keys to so much of the master's filmography. More similar to Woody Allen's autobiographical "Radio Days" than it is to European art films such as "The 400 Blows" and "Amarcord" (the more highbrow models other directors typically point to when re-creating their childhoods), "The Fabelmans" invites audiences into the home and headspace of the world's most beloved living director, an oddly sanitized zone where even the trauma – which includes anti-Semitism, financial disadvantage and divorce – seems to go better with fresh-buttered popcorn."


title: The Fabelmans

text: David Ehrlich of "IndieWire" was mixed about the film and gave it a B+, writing that Spielberg "...may not have been able to fix his parents' marriage, but for more than half a century his films have been reconciling the family that Arthur and Leah Spielberg made possible. 'The Fabelmans' doesn't do that as well as the director's best work, but it dramatizes his process of making peace with his dreams so beautifully that it almost doesn't matter. To me, this is a far cry from a magnum opus. For Spielberg, it feels like the greatest show on Earth." Brian Tallerico of "RogerEbert.com" praised the screenplay, calling it "...a graceful gem, moving through different chapters of the life of this relatively average family that would just happen to produce an unaverage filmmaker." Benjamin Lee of "The Guardian" was mixed, saying that "There remains a remove though still, Spielberg giving us a slightly too stage-managed version of himself and his family, some gristle missing from the darkest moments." Tomris Laffly of "The Playlist" wrote "It's Spielberg's most personal film, one that gorgeously revives the memories of his childhood and youth with a lavish sense of wistfulness and an aptly Hollywood-ized, fable-like touch."


title: The Fabelmans

text: John DeFore of "The Hollywood Reporter" called it "...a vivid capturing of the auteur’s earliest flashes of filmmaking insight and a portrait, full of love yet unclouded by nostalgia, of the family that made him." Justin Chang of "Los Angeles Times" called it "A uniquely confessional work, in which a great artist freely and happily acknowledges the manipulation inherent in the art form he was born to master." Leah Greenblatt of "Entertainment Weekly" wrote that "If it all feels a little sanitized and idealized, it's also consistently lovely – and after 75 years and 34 films, who more than Spielberg has earned the right to revisit his stardust memories?" Richard Lawson of "Vanity Fair" wrote that "Not all memoir is generous. It can be intriguingly solipsistic, or maddeningly vain. But because there's always been a curious blankness to Spielberg's public persona – cheerful and engaged but never quite known – "The Fabelmans" does feel like something of a gift."


title: The Fabelmans

text: David Fear of "Rolling Stone" wrote that "If the movie does adhere to [Steven Spielberg's] signature beats, and feature so many recognizable Spielbergisms, occasionally to its detriment, it’s still one of the most impressive, enlightening, vital things he's ever done." Peter Travers of ABC News was positively overwhelmed by the film, saying "Bring out the Oscars for 'The Fabelmans,' a personal best from Steven Spielberg in no small part because it's a family picture about Spielberg's own family. Sentimental? Sure. Sappy? Never. No movie this year cuts a clearer path to the heart and the power of imagination." Anthony Lane of "The New Yorker" praised the film, saying "'The Fabelmans' may look nice ’n’ easy as it swings along, with a pile of laughs to cushion the ride, and a nifty visual gag in the closing seconds, but take care. Here is a film that is touched with the madness of love."


title: The Fabelmans

text: Anna Swanson of "Film School Rejects" praised the film, saying "By laying bare indiscretions and frustrations, Spielberg is ostensibly airing out the dirty laundry and then treating it with the empathy that can only come from an adult perspective on childhood memories. As they're depicted in the film, Burt and Mitzi are far more nuanced and complicated than any kid believes their parents to be when they're young. It's a touching, mature gesture that ultimately flatters all involved." Kyle Buchanan of "The New York Times" praised Michelle Williams' performance, writing that she "...really goes for it, attacking this part like someone who knows she's been handed her signature role." In a later review for the paper, Manohla Dargis named it a "New York Times" Critic's Pick, calling the film "...somewhat of a fable and wonderful in both large and small ways, even if Spielberg can’t help but soften the rougher, potentially lacerating edges."


title: The Fabelmans

text: Alison Willmore of "Vulture" wrote that "Spielberg, an incredibly precise filmmaker, never seems certain as to what a movie about his life, or about that of a slightly outsize proxy, should look like, and that uncertainty is actually the warmest and most vulnerable quality "The Fabelmans" has." Johnny Oleksinski of "New York Post" praised the film, calling it "...gripping, visually mesmeric, boasts an exceptional, grounded script by Tony Kushner and is acted to the hilt. A no-holds-barred Michelle Williams skyrockets to the front of the Oscar race with an unforgettable performance." Todd Gilchrist of "The A.V. Club" praised the film, calling it "A measured and incredibly intimate look at Spielberg's upbringing as he developed his aptitude for storytelling through a medium that mesmerized him... as an extraordinary device that not only unveils powerful truths, but often shapes them as well." David Sims of "The Atlantic" singled out LaBelle, Williams and Dano's performances and praised Spielberg's use of storytelling, saying that "Viewers expecting a stirring childhood memoir about the power of cinema may be surprised at how bittersweet and raw the story actually is. But that vulnerability is what makes the film a triumph."


title: The Fabelmans

text: Stephanie Zacharek of "Time" ranked the film as the best movie of 2022. Zacharek would furthermore praise Williams and Dano’s performances as part of Time’s Top 10 movie performances of 2022, describing Williams as “a portrait of a woman so full of life she doesn’t know where to put it all…Williams captures Mitzi’s all-encompassing incandescence and her isolation,” and Dano “In him we see the sum of all the things that so many men of that generation just didn’t know how to be; we also see a deep well of love, no less real for being left unexpressed.” Adam Nayman of "The Ringer" named the frame of younger Sammy Fabelman (Mateo Zoryon Francis-DeFord) "projecting his own painstakingly captured Super 8 footage onto his outstretched palms" in the dark as one of the best shots of 2022, calling it "...a holy trinity that, as visualized by Steven Spielberg at his late-career image-making peak, signifies something deeply metaphysical about filmgoing and filmmaking — that the artist must imagine himself amidst the audience."


title: 2022 Atlantic hurricane season

text: The 2022 Atlantic hurricane season was the first season since 1997 in which no tropical cyclones formed in August, and the first season on record to do so during a La Niña year. It was a fairly average hurricane season with an average number of named storms, a slightly above-average number of hurricanes, a slightly below-average number of major hurricanes (category 3 or higher on the 5-level Saffir–Simpson wind speed scale), and a near-normal accumulated cyclone energy (ACE) index. Despite this, it became one of the costliest Atlantic hurricane seasons on record. There were fourteen named storms during the season. Eight of them strengthened into a hurricane, and two reached major hurricane intensity. The season officially began on June 1, and ended on November 30. These dates, adopted by convention, historically describe the period in each year when most subtropical or tropical cyclogenesis occurs in the Atlantic Ocean. This year's first named storm, Tropical Storm Alex, developed five days after the start of the season, making this the first season since 2014 not to have a pre-season named storm.


title: 2022 Atlantic hurricane season

text: Two systems developed on July 1. Tropical Storm Bonnie formed and made landfall near the Costa Rica–Nicaragua border. It then crossed over into the Pacific basin, becoming the first to survive the crossover from the Atlantic to the Pacific since Hurricane Otto in 2016. Also, Tropical Storm Colin formed abruptly and made landfall in South Carolina. It quickly weakened and dissipated the next day. Following this activity, tropical cyclogenesis was suppressed across the basin for several weeks by a combination of high wind shear, drier air, and the presence of the Saharan Air Layer. After a 60-day lull in tropical cyclone activity, Hurricanes Danielle and Earl formed on September 1 and 3 respectively, with Danielle becoming the season's first hurricane. The last season to have its first hurricane develop this late was 2013.


title: 2022 Atlantic hurricane season

text: Activity then increased tremendously towards the end of the month as four named storms formed in quick succession. Among them, Hurricane Fiona became the season's first major hurricane on September 20, which is about three weeks later than when the first one typically forms. As an extratropical cyclone it became the strongest storm in Canadian history, as measured by central pressure, and caused significant damage in Atlantic Canada. Hurricane Ian became the second major hurricane of the season on September 27, before inflicting major to catastrophic damage upon Western Cuba, Southwestern and Central Florida, and the Carolinas. Hurricane Julia formed in early October and became the second storm of the season to cross over into the Pacific basin intact after traversing Nicaragua, making the 2022 season one of the three to have more than one crossover system. The last storm in the season, Hurricane Nicole, made landfall on the coasts of the Bahamas and Florida. It was the first November hurricane to make landfall in Florida since Kate in 1985, and caused heavy damage in areas devastated by Ian six weeks earlier.


title: 2022 Atlantic hurricane season

text: In advance of, and during, each hurricane season, several forecasts of hurricane activity are issued by national meteorological services, scientific agencies, and noted hurricane experts. These include forecasters from the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)'s Climate Prediction Center, Tropical Storm Risk (TSR), the United Kingdom's Met Office (UKMO), and Philip J. Klotzbach, William M. Gray and their associates at Colorado State University (CSU). The forecasts include weekly and monthly changes in significant factors that help determine the number of tropical storms, hurricanes, and major hurricanes within a particular year. According to NOAA and CSU, the average Atlantic hurricane season between 1991 and 2020 contained roughly 14 tropical storms, seven hurricanes, three major hurricanes, and an accumulated cyclone energy (ACE) index of 74–126 units. Broadly speaking, ACE is a measure of the power of a tropical or subtropical storm multiplied by the length of time it existed. It is only calculated for full advisories on specific tropical and subtropical systems reaching or exceeding wind speeds of . NOAA typically categorizes a season as above-average, average, or below-average based on the cumulative ACE index, but the number of tropical storms, hurricanes, and major hurricanes within a hurricane season is sometimes also considered.


title: 2022 Atlantic hurricane season

text: On December 9, 2021, CSU issued an extended range forecast for the 2022 hurricane season, giving a 40% chance of near-average activity with 13–16 named storms, 6–8 hurricanes, 2–3 major hurricanes, and an ACE index of about 130 units. The forecast also gave a 25% chance that the ACE Index would end up being around 170 units, and a 25% likelihood the likelihood that the index would end up around 80. TSR also issued an extended range forecast on December 10, 2021. It predicted overall near-average tropical activity with its ACE index, anticipating 18 tropical storms, 8 hurricanes and 3 intense hurricanes to form during the season. One of their factors was the expectation of a neutral El Niño-Southern Oscillation condition by the third quarter of 2022. This outlook had "large uncertainties".


title: 2022 Atlantic hurricane season

text: On April 7, CSU issued their first extended range seasonal forecast for the 2022 Atlantic hurricane season, predicting well above-average activity, with 19 named storms, 9 hurricanes, 4 major hurricanes and an ACE index of 160 units. Their factors supporting an active hurricane season included above average-sea surface temperatures in the subtropical Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea, and a cool neutral ENSO or weak La Niña pattern, corresponding to a low chance of an El Niño. On April 14, 2022, University of Arizona (UA) issued its seasonal prediction for a slightly above-average hurricane season, with 14 named storms, seven hurricanes, three major hurricanes, and an ACE index of 129 units. North Carolina State University (NCSU) made its prediction for the season on April 20, calling for an above-average season with 17 to 21 named storms, 7 to 9 hurricanes, and 3 to 5 major hurricanes.


title: 2022 Atlantic hurricane season

text: On May 23, UKMO issued their own forecast for the 2022 season, predicting an above average season with 18 named storms, 9 hurricanes, and 4 major hurricanes, with a 70% chance that each of these statistics will fall between 13 and 23, 6 and 12, and 2 and 6, respectively. The following day, NOAA's Climate Prediction Center issued their forecasts for the season, predicting a 65% chance of above-average activity and 25% chance for below-average activity, with 14–21 named storms, 6–10 hurricanes, and 3–6 major hurricanes.


title: 2022 Atlantic hurricane season

text: On June 2, CSU updated their extended range seasonal forecast, increasing the amount of tropical cyclones to 20 named storms, 10 hurricanes, 5 major hurricanes, and an overall ACE index of 180 units. This was done after later analysis of lower chances of an El Niño during the season, as well as a warmer than average tropical Atlantic. On June 20, 2022, University of Arizona (UA) updated its seasonal prediction, which is very similar to its April prediction, with 15 named storms, seven hurricanes, three major hurricanes, and an ACE index of 131 units. On July 5, TSR released their third forecast for the season, slightly increasing their numbers to 18 named storms, 9 hurricanes, and 4 major hurricanes. This prediction was largely based on the persistence of the weak La Niña into the third quarter of the year. On July 7, CSU did not make changes to their updated prediction of 20 named storms, 10 hurricanes, and 5 major hurricanes. UKMO's updated forecast on August 2 called for 16 named storms, 6 hurricanes, and 4 major hurricanes. Two days later, NOAA and CSU each revised their activity outlook slightly downward, though both still predicted that the season would end up being busier than the 30-year average. The revisions were made in part because of the relative slow start to the season (as compared to the past couple), with only three short-lived named storms as of the start of August.


title: 2022 Atlantic hurricane season

text: The 2022 season was the first season since 2014 to not have a pre-season named storm. It was also the first season not to have above-average activity overall since 2015. Activity began with the formation of Tropical Storm Alex on June 5, after several days of slow development while traversing the Gulf of Mexico and then moving over Central Florida. The storm peaked at near-hurricane strength before becoming extratropical over the Central North Atlantic. On July 1, Tropical Storm Bonnie formed in the Southern Caribbean Sea and made landfall shortly thereafter near the Costa Rica–Nicaragua border. It then crossed over into the Pacific basin a day later, the first storm to do so since Hurricane Otto in 2016, where it would become a Category 3 hurricane. Also on July 1, a low-pressure system off the U.S. Atlantic coast near Savannah, Georgia abruptly organized into Tropical Storm Colin, a short-lived storm that dissipated the next day inland over northeastern South Carolina. Tropical activity then ceased, with no tropical cyclones forming for almost two months. 2022 became the first season since 1997 to not have a tropical cyclone form in August, . One disturbance over the Gulf of Mexico during the middle of the month was briefly designated as a "potential tropical cyclone", but it did not organize into a tropical cyclone before moving inland over Northeastern Mexico.


title: 2022 Atlantic hurricane season

text: Tropical activity ultimately resumed with the formation of Tropical Storm Danielle over the central Atlantic on September 1. The storm intensified into a hurricane the following day, the latest "first hurricane of the season" since 2013. It remained nearly stationary far to the west of the Azores for several days before moving northeastward and becoming extratropical on September 8 without affecting any land areas. Additionally, a slow-developing disturbance east of the Lesser Antilles became organized and developed into Tropical Storm Earl late on It strengthened into a hurricane, tracked east of Bermuda, fluctuating between Category 1 and 2 intensity, and then became extratropical near Newfoundland on September 10. Four days later, Tropical Storm Fiona formed in the Central Atlantic. Fiona eventually became a hurricane, striking both Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic before becoming the season's first major hurricane as it passed by the Turks and Caicos Islands on September 20. That same day, Tropical Storm Gaston formed over the Central Atlantic and moved through the Western Azores. Fiona strengthened into a Category 4 hurricane as it passed west of Bermuda and transitioned into a powerful extratropical cyclone on September 23, just before striking Nova Scotia. That same day, Tropical Depression Nine formed in the Caribbean Sea and Tropical Depression Ten formed in the eastern tropical Atlantic, marking the first time since 2020 that four tropical cyclones were active simultaneously in the Atlantic basin.


title: 2022 Atlantic hurricane season

text: Tropical Depression Nine became Hurricane Ian, the most destructive storm of the season. It made landfall in western Cuba as a high-end Category 3 hurricane, southwestern Florida as a high-end Category 4 hurricane, and in South Carolina as a Category 1. Tropical Depression Ten attained tropical storm strength first, becoming Tropical Storm Hermine. It was one of the easternmost Atlantic tropical storms on record, and brought heavy rainfall to the Canary Islands. Next, Tropical Depression Eleven formed during the last week in September, and then Tropical Depression Twelve formed one week later. Ultimately, neither cyclone strengthened into a tropical storm. Soon thereafter, Hurricane Julia formed just off the coast of Venezuela. After traversing Nicaragua intact, Julia entered the Pacific basin. Not since 1996 has more than one storm crossed between the Atlantic and Pacific basins intact during a single season. On October 11, Tropical Storm Karl formed in the Bay of Campeche, moved erratically over open waters, before degenerating into a remnant low offshore of Mexico. Two systems were at hurricane strength on November 2: Lisa, in the Caribbean, and Martin, in the central Atlantic. Thus, for the first time since Michelle and Noel in 2001, two Atlantic hurricanes were at hurricane strength simultaneously during November. Soon thereafter, Hurricane Nicole formed and impacted the Greater Antilles, The Bahamas, and the Southeastern United States.


title: 2022 Atlantic hurricane season

text: This season's ACE index, as calculated by Colorado State University using data from the NHC, was approximately 95.1 units, which was 80% of the long-term (30-year) average. The ACE number represents the sum of the squares of the maximum sustained wind speed (knots) for all named storms while they are at least tropical storm intensity, divided by 10,000. Therefore, tropical depressions are not included.


title: 2022 Atlantic hurricane season

text: On May 31, a large low-pressure area developed near the Yucatán Peninsula, partially related to the Pacific basin remnants of Hurricane Agatha interacting with an upper-level trough over the Gulf of Mexico. The low moved eastward over the Yucatán Peninsula, producing a large area of disorganized showers and thunderstorms over the peninsula and northwestern Caribbean Sea on Due to the threat the developing system posed to Cuba, the Florida Keys and South Florida, the National Hurricane Center initiated advisories on it, designating it as "Potential Tropical Cyclone One" at 21:00 UTC on June 2. As it proceeded northeastward over the Gulf of Mexico, the disturbance was being buffeted by southwesterly shear, which limited its ability to intensify. On June 3, two Hurricane Hunters missions into the system found deep convection ongoing near and to the east of the estimated center, but no conclusive evidence of a closed circulation. Early the following day, the broad and poorly-defined center of the disturbance moved over southwestern Florida. Then, after moving into the Atlantic later that same day, a well-defined center formed with sufficient convection, resulting in it being upgraded to Tropical Storm Alex at 06:00 UTC on June 5. The storm intensified some later that same day, attaining sustained winds of as it passed west of Bermuda. Soon thereafter, Alex began its extra-tropical transition, a process that was complete by 21:00 UTC on June 6.


title: 2022 Atlantic hurricane season

text: While a potential tropical cyclone, what would later become Alex produced significant rainfall across western Cuba and South Florida, which resulted in flash flooding across both regions. During a 30-hour period on June 2–3, Paso Real de San Diego in the province of Pinar del Río recorded about of rain, and Playa Girón in Matanzas received over . There were four storm-related deaths in Cuba, and numerous homes and bridges were damaged by the flooding. Between 7:00 a.m. local time on June 3, and 10:00 p.m. the following day, Miami saw just over of rain, while Hollywood had just over . Naples, near where the storm's estimated center came onshore, also had close to . Across Broward County and Miami-Dade County, there were a combined 3,543 power outages.


title: 2022 Atlantic hurricane season

text: A tropical wave moved off the northwest coast of Africa south of 10°N on June 23, producing a large but disorganized area of showers and thunderstorms. The low-level wind circulation associated with the system became better defined and thunderstorm activity increased on June 25–26, as it moved along a west to west-northwesterly track toward the southernmost Windward Islands. A NOAA Hurricane Hunters mission on June 27, reported tropical-storm-strength winds on the north side of the disturbance but indicated that it had not yet shown a well-defined closed circulation. Although it could not yet be classified as a tropical cyclone, due to the threat the system posed to the Lesser Antilles, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) initiated advisories on it as "Potential Tropical Cyclone Two" later that same day. Later, after moving through the southern Windward Islands late on June 28, the disturbance sped west at toward the coast of South America. Over the next couple of days, the system passed just to the north of Venezuela, where it was hindered from developing a distinct low-level circulation due to its fast forward speed and its interaction with land. Yet all the while it generated sustained winds of tropical-storm strength. As the disturbance moved toward Central America on the morning of July 1, it became sufficiently organized to be classified as a tropical storm and was given the name "Bonnie". Embedded in a low-shear and warm SST environment, Bonnie started to steadily intensify. At 03:00 UTC on July 2, Bonnie made landfall near the Costa Rica–Nicaragua border at its peak intensity within the Atlantic with sustained winds of 50 mph (85 km/h). Bonnie then crossed Central America and exited into the Eastern Pacific basin 12 hours later.


title: 2022 Atlantic hurricane season

text: Bonnie and its precursor disturbance produced gusty winds and heavy rainfall as it tracked through the southern Caribbean Sea. In Nicaragua, authorities reported four deaths in relation to the storm.


title: 2022 Atlantic hurricane season

text: An area of low pressure formed along a surface trough offshore of Savannah, Georgia, on the morning of July 1. During this time the system unexpectedly developed and quickly became well organized. At 18:00 UTC that day, a tropical depression formed, and strengthened into Tropical Storm Colin a few hours later as it made landfall near Hunting Island, South Carolina, while simultaneously reaching peak intensity with maximum sustained winds of . The center of the storm remained just inland over coastal South Carolina on July 2, though most of its heavy rains and strong winds remained out over the Atlantic due to its proximity to the coast and northwesterly shear of around . Colin became increasingly disorganized later that day, with its circulation becoming elongated due to the wind shear and continued land interaction. By 18:00 UTC on July 2, Colin's winds had decreased to 35 mph (55 km/h) and the storm was downgraded to a tropical depression. It continued to weaken rapidly, and its low-level circulation dissipated over northeastern South Carolina by the end of that day.