title: Max Headroom

text: Two days after the TV-movie was broadcast, Max hosted Channel 4's "The Max Headroom Show", a TV program where he introduces music videos, comments on various topics, and eventually interviews guests before a live studio audience. During its second and third year, it also aired in the US on Cinemax. Max Headroom became a global spokesperson for New Coke, appearing on many TV commercials with the catchphrase "Catch the wave!". After the cancellation of "The Max Headroom Show", Matt Frewer portrayed Max and Carter in the 1987 American TV drama series "Max Headroom" on ABC. The series returns to Carter and Max challenging the status quo of a cyberpunk world, now portraying them as allies and providing a slightly altered version of Max's origin. The series was canceled during its second year.


title: Max Headroom

text: Max's appearance and style of speech has influenced and been referenced by different media, such as Ron Headrest, a fictional character in the comic strip "Doonesbury" a political parody of Ronald Reagan (who also appeared in "Back to the Future Part II") and Eminem's 2013 "Rap God" video wherein the rapper resembles Max. He was emulated by an unknown person in a Max mask while hijacking a local broadcast signal in 1987, later referred to as the "Max Headroom incident". To advertise and promote Channel 4 and its subsidiary channels shifting from broadcast to digital signal, an aged Max Headroom (again portrayed by Frewer) appeared in new commercials in 2007 and 2008. Max cameos in the 2015 film "Pixels".


title: Max Headroom

text: With the rising popularity of music videos with youth culture, and stations such as MTV, Channel 4 hosted a music video programme. Rocky Morton was tasked to develop a graphic to play before and after the videos, clarifying to audiences these were features of a special show and not just random music videos between TV advertisements. Taking inspiration from MTV video jockeys (VJs) and US TV hosts, Morton decided a graphic or "bumper video" would not appeal to youth nearly as much as a host with a loud personality. He thought British youth would be suspicious of a youthful personality attempting to appeal to them and might instead appreciate the cynical irony of a host who appeared to be a conservative man in a simple suit and tie attempting to appeal to youth but lacking a true understanding of their culture. He saw the host as "the most boring thing that I could think of to do... a talking head: a middle-class white male in a suit, talking to them in a really boring way about music videos". Morton thought the host should be computer-generated or animated. When this proved impractical, an actor was cast with the illusion of a computer generated host. Channel 4 executives enjoyed Morton's pitch and introduced Max as a character in an hour-long TV-movie before presenting him as a programme host.


title: Max Headroom

text: Producer Peter Wagg hired writers David Hansen and Paul Owen to construct Max's "whole persona", which Morton described as the "very sterile, arrogant, Western personification of the middle-class, male TV host". The background story provided for the Max Headroom character in "" was rooted in a dystopian near-future dominated by television and large corporations, devised by George Stone and eventual script writer Steve Roberts. The character's name came from the last thing Carter saw during a motorcycle accident that put him into a coma: a traffic warning sign marked "MAX. HEADROOM: 2.3 M" (an overhead clearance of 2.3 metres) suspended across a car park entrance. The name originated well before other character aspects from George Stone, who remarked "[the phrase] 'max headroom' was over the entranceway of every car park in the UK. Instant branding, instant recognition." It was decided "Max Headroom" was a comically ironic name for a host who implied he knew and understood everything, as the name indicated his head was actually empty of true knowledge and wisdom.


title: Max Headroom

text: Canadian-American actor Matt Frewer tested for the role after a friend of his had already auditioned and then suggested him instead. Producer and character co-creator Annabel Jankel thought Frewer would be a good choice to masquerade as a person whose appearance was designed by a computer, seeing from his casting Polaroid photo that he had "unbelievably well-defined features". Frewer was given "a few lines" of dialogue and then encouraged to improvise. His comedic improvisation of more than ten minutes impressed the production crew. He was inspired by character Ted Baxter of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show", recalling in 1987, "I particularly wanted to get that phony bonhomie of Baxter ... Max always assumes a decade long friendship on the first meeting. At first sight, he'll ask about that blackhead on your nose."


title: Max Headroom

text: While Hansen and Owen continued writing Max's lines in the TV movie and music video programme episodes, Frewer always improvised more dialogue during filming and was encouraged to do so. Hansen and Owen later wrote the 1985 book "Max Headroom's Guide to Life" from Max's personal perspective.


title: Max Headroom

text: In discussing Max's fictional origin story, it was first proposed that he could be an AI created to stand in for a human TV host who was late for his own show. The backstory would be revealed through different five-minute segments during the first season of "The Max Headroom Show". When Channel 4 decided Max's origin would be featured in an hour long TV movie instead, an expanded story was developed and the origin was altered to now involve a crusading journalist named Edison Carter. On 4 April 1985, the TV movie "Max Headroom: 20 Minutes Into the Future" introduced Max to television audiences. On 6 April 1985, Channel 4 aired the first episode of "The Max Headroom Show".


title: Max Headroom

text: The character's classic look is a shiny dark suit often paired with Ray-Ban Wayfarer sunglasses. Other than the publicity for the character, the real image of Max was not computer-generated. Computing technology in the mid-1980s was not sufficiently advanced yet for a full-motion, voice-synchronized human head to be practical for a television series. Max's image is actually that of actor Matt Frewer in latex and foam prosthetic makeup with a fiberglass suit created by Peter Litten and John Humphreys. Preparing the look for filming involved a four-and-a-half-hour session in makeup, which Frewer described as "gruelling" and "not fun", likening it to "being on the inside of a giant tennis ball". Only his head and shoulders are shown, usually superimposed over a moving geometric background. This background is a piece of CGI footage that had been generated for one of Morton and Jankel's ad agency's commercials, and later, in the United States version, generated by an Amiga computer. His chaotic speech patterns are based upon his voice pitching up or down seemingly at random, or occasionally becoming stuck in a stuttering loop. These modulations also appear in live performances.


title: Max Headroom

text: Max Headroom debuted in the British-made cyberpunk TV movie "Max Headroom: 20 Minutes into the Future", which was broadcast on 4 April 1985. It consists of material originally planned to be broken into five-minute backstory segments for "The Max Headroom Show", later expanded to one hour.


title: Max Headroom

text: Set in a near future world, it focuses on Edison Carter (Frewer), a crusading and witty journalist who openly challenges the corporations that rule the world, including his own employer Station 23. Max Headroom is a secondary character, an AI created from Carter's basic brain patterns and memory fragments. As Carter exposes corruption in Station 23, Max rises as a host on independent, public access television. In the movie, Max and Edison Carter never meet.


title: Max Headroom

text: Premiering on 6 April 1985, it features music videos with Max Headroom as video jockey (VJ or "veejay"). Early episodes unusually feature no introductory title sequence or end credits, beginning and ending instead with a cold open of static as if Max Headroom is hijacking the broadcast signal to speak to the audience. Channel 4 advertised Max as the "first computer-generated TV presenter" and Matt Frewer was initially under contract to withhold his identity in the role. Many believed Max was a computer animated puppet, manipulated and voiced by an actor. For this reason, the series pilot won the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) award for graphics in 1986, though the show has no computer generated graphics beyond Max's simple background lines.


title: Max Headroom

text: The show was an immediate hit in the UK, doubling Channel 4's viewing figures for its time slot within one month. In its second year, the programme broadened the original concept to include a live studio audience and celebrity interviews. Frewer did not appear in-person before the audience or share the stage with guests. Instead, he filmed in another room as Max Headroom and appeared before the audience and guests on television screens via a live feed, maintaining the illusion of an AI living in broadcast signals and computer systems.


title: Max Headroom

text: The second and third years of the show were also broadcast on the US cable channel Cinemax. A Christmas special was written by George R.R. Martin, later famous for his book series "A Song of Ice and Fire", the basis for "Game of Thrones".


title: Max Headroom

text: Channel 4 ended "The Max Headroom Show" after its third year. Cinemax then produced six more episodes for US audiences in 1987, rebranded as "The Original Talking Max Headroom Show".


title: Max Headroom

text: American TV station ABC acquired the rights to create an ongoing series titled "Max Headroom". Rather than a music program, this is a prime time dramatic series based on the story and concepts of the original TV movie "Max Headroom: 20 Minutes Into the Future". By this time, it was known to the general public that Max was not a computer generated character or puppet but rather actor Matt Frewer in prosthetics, so press for the show openly spoke of him as a lead cast member in both roles of Max Headroom and Edison Carter. Amanda Pays reprised her role from the original film.


title: Max Headroom

text: The pilot is largely based on the original movie. The hacker who creates Max Headroom is innocent and manipulated rather than overtly villainous and callous. Max's origin is slightly different and he more strongly shares Carter's drive to expose corruption rather than only comment on it. In the pilot, Max and Carter meet, leading them to work as allies for the rest of the series. It regularly parodies and criticizes media corporations and topical news events.


title: Max Headroom

text: "Max Headroom" was broadcast for two short seasons from 1987 to 1988. Producer Peter Wagg attempted to sell a movie concept called "Max Headroom for President", but it was not picked up. Shout! Factory released "Max Headroom: The Complete Series" on DVD in the United States and Canada on August 10, 2010.


title: Max Headroom

text: On November 22, 1987, an unidentified person wearing a Max Headroom mask and costume carried out broadcast signal hijacking of two television stations in Chicago, Illinois. During each signal interruption, the hijacker speaks with distorted audio and stands before a swiveling corrugated panel to mimick Max Headroom's geometric background effect. He referenced Max Headroom's endorsement of Coca-Cola, the TV series "Clutch Cargo", WGN anchor Chuck Swirsky, and "all the greatest world newspaper nerds" (a reference to WGN's call letters, which stand for "World's Greatest Newspaper").


title: Max Headroom

text: The first "Max Headroom incident" was 25 seconds during the sports segment of WGN-TV's 9:00 p.m. news broadcast. Approximately two hours later, the second signal hijacking was about 90 seconds during PBS affiliate WTTW's broadcast of "Doctor Who" ("The Horror of Fang Rock"). The second video ended with the hijacker apparently exposing buttocks and being spanked with a flyswatter. Normal programming then quickly resumed. These video pirates have never been identified.


title: Max Headroom

text: Max made celebrity cameos and sampled appearances in other TV series, books, the Art of Noise song "Paranoimia" and its video (which became a top-40 hit on the "Billboard" Hot 100), and advertisement campaigns. He was the spokesman for New Coke (after the return of Coca-Cola Classic), delivering the slogan "Catch the wave!" (in his staccato, stuttering playback as "C-c-catch the wave!"). After the two TV shows and the Coke advertising campaign ended, Peter Wagg attempted to sell a movie concept called "Max Headroom for President" but did not find a company willing to produce it.


title: Max Headroom

text: In 1986, Quicksilva released a "Max Headroom" video game, developed by Binary Design, originally for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum and ported to the Commodore 64, Amstrad, and Amiga. In 1987, announced a thirty-two page "Max Headroom 3-D" comic, written by Mike Baron and illustrated by Arnold and Jacob Pander but the issue was never published.


title: Max Headroom

text: Max returned to television TV in 2007. He appeared in an advertisement series for Channel 4 to raise awareness for the digital switchover. These advertisements were directed by original creator Rocky Morton. Matt Frewer portrayed Max, with make up that showed the AI had aged considerably and was in ill-health, implying he belonged to obsolete analogue television and had no place with new digital technology. Matt Frewer played Max Headroom for a brief cameo scene in the 2015 movie "Pixels", a narrative that featured many digital characters from 1980s video games.


title: G.I. Joe: Retaliation

text: G.I. Joe: Retaliation is a 2013 American military science fiction action film based on Hasbro's "G.I. Joe" toy, comic, and media franchise. The second film in the "G.I. Joe" film series, it follows 2009's "". Directed by Jon M. Chu and written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, the film features an ensemble cast with Lee Byung-hun, Ray Park, Jonathan Pryce, Arnold Vosloo, and Channing Tatum reprising their roles from the first film, while Luke Bracey and Robert Baker take over the role of Cobra Commander, replacing Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Dwayne Johnson, Bruce Willis, D. J. Cotrona, Adrianne Palicki, Ray Stevenson and Elodie Yung round out the principal cast.


title: G.I. Joe: Retaliation

text: In the film, with Cobra operative Zartan still impersonating the President of the United States, the terrorist organization is able to frame the Joes as traitors, and have them nearly annihilated in an airstrike. Cobra Commander places world leaders under Cobra's control, and gains access to their advanced warheads. Outnumbered and outgunned, the surviving Joes form a plan with original G.I. Joe, General Joseph Colton, to overthrow Cobra Commander and his allies.


title: G.I. Joe: Retaliation

text: Originally slated for release in June 2012, the film was delayed in order to convert to 3D and boost interest in international markets. It was released in North America on March 28, 2013. The film received negative reviews from critics and grossed $375 million worldwide against a budget of $130–155 million.


title: G.I. Joe: Retaliation

text: Duke leads the G.I. Joe Team to the Korean Demilitarized Zone to find a North Korean defector. They assign another mission to steal nuclear warheads from Pakistan after the death of its President during a civil war. Deeming them as traitors, Zartan, still impersonating the President of the United States, calls an airstrike that kills Duke and the other Joes. Heavy machine gunner Roadblock, rookie sniper Flint, and counterintelligence officer Lady Jaye survive the attack by diving into a well, and they return to the United States to contact General Joseph Colton, who provides them with weapons.


title: G.I. Joe: Retaliation

text: Meanwhile, Storm Shadow, who survived the Arctic base's destruction, and demolitions expert Firefly rescue Cobra Commander from an underground maximum-security prison in Germany, leaving Destro behind. Storm Shadow is injured and retreats to a temple in the Himalayas to recover. The Blind Master, leader of the Arashikage Clan, sends Snake Eyes and his apprentice Jinx, to capture Storm Shadow, allowing him to answer the murder of his uncle, the Hard Master. Before Storm Shadow was falsely-accused, he and Snake Eyes grew up together and were considered friends, but this relationship deteriorated when his "friends" did not trust him to not be a murderer, a detail that he never forgot, even after they cleared his name and somewhat uncomfortably called a truce in order to work together.


title: G.I. Joe: Retaliation

text: After Zartan announces that Cobra will become the premier U.S. special forces team, replacing G.I. Joe, Lady Jaye deduces that someone is impersonating the President. At a presidential fundraiser, she steals a sample of the President's DNA, confirming that he is Zartan. They escape after a confrontation with Firefly and Zandar, the head of the U.S. Secret Service's Presidential Detail and a member of Cobra.


title: G.I. Joe: Retaliation

text: Snake Eyes and Jinx locate and capture Storm Shadow after a battle with some ninjas loyal to Storm Shadow and take him back to Tokyo, where Storm Shadow proclaims that he did not kill the Hard Master and proves it by fighting Snake Eyes with the weapon that killed the Hard Master, which breaks as it isn't Arashikage steel. The Blind Master deduces that Zartan was the one that murdered the Hard Master and framed Storm Shadow for it, who joined Cobra to bring it down from the inside. Exonerated, Storm Shadow accompanies Snake Eyes and Jinx, his cousin, as they join the Joes' efforts to stop Cobra and avenge the Hard Master.


title: G.I. Joe: Retaliation

text: Zartan invites the world leaders to a summit at Fort Sumter, where he blackmails them into disabling their nuclear arsenals, and reveals that he has created Project Zeus: seven orbital kinetic bombardment weapons of mass destruction at his command. To prove his superiority, he destroys Central London and activates the remaining weapons, offering to disarm them if the countries submit to Cobra. Storm Shadow betrays Cobra Commander and starts a fight, revealing Cobra's deception to the world leaders. Colton kills Zandar and rescues the real President with Lady Jaye, while Storm Shadow kills Zartan. While Snake Eyes, Jinx, and Flint fight Cobra's soldiers, Cobra Commander instructs Firefly to protect the launch device, and escapes by helicopter. Roadblock overpowers Firefly and destroys the orbital weapons. Storm Shadow leaves after avenging his uncle.


title: G.I. Joe: Retaliation

text: At the White House ceremony, the real President addresses the nation and commemorates the Joes, who were awarded by Colton: Roadblock, Snake Eyes, Jinx, Flint, and Lady Jaye. Colton presents Roadblock with an M1911 pistol that belonged to General George S. Patton; to use it to find Cobra Commander. Roadblock proudly raises the weapon and fires a single shot in honor of his fallen comrades, vowing to avenge them.


title: G.I. Joe: Retaliation

text: After the financially successful release of "", Rob Moore, the studio vice chairman of Paramount Pictures, stated in 2009 that a sequel would be developed. In January 2011, Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, the writers of "Zombieland", were hired to write the script for the sequel. The movie was originally thought to be titled "G.I. Joe: Cobra Strikes", which was later denied by Reese. Stephen Sommers was originally going to return as director of the sequel, but Paramount Pictures announced in February 2011 that Jon Chu would direct the sequel. In July 2011, the sequel's name was revealed to be "G.I. Joe: Retaliation". Chu would later declare that Paramount wanted a reboot that also served as a sequel to "The Rise of Cobra" since "a lot of people saw the first movie so we don't want to alienate that and redo the whole thing."


title: G.I. Joe: Retaliation

text: In January 2011, it was confirmed that Lee Byung-hun would reprise his role as Storm Shadow in the sequel. Channing Tatum and Ray Park also returned, as Duke and Snake Eyes, respectively. Rachel Nichols, the actress who played Scarlett in the first film, stated that most cast members would not be returning, except for the three aforementioned actors. In March 2011, Sienna Miller stated that she would not be returning for a sequel. Joseph Gordon-Levitt also confirmed that he would not be returning as Cobra Commander in the sequel because he was too busy with "The Dark Knight Rises".


title: G.I. Joe: Retaliation

text: In June 2011, Dwayne Johnson was cast as Roadblock, D. J. Cotrona and RZA were cast as Flint and Blind Master, respectively, while Élodie Yung was in talks for the role of Jinx. In July 2011, Adrianne Palicki was confirmed for the lead female role of Lady Jaye, and Ray Stevenson was confirmed to portray the villain Firefly. Arnold Vosloo also confirmed that he would reprise his role of Zartan. Jonathan Pryce will reprise his role as the President of the United States. Joseph Mazzello was confirmed to play Mouse. In August 2011, Walton Goggins was added as Warden Nigel James, and it was confirmed that Bruce Willis was cast to star in the film as the original G.I. Joe. The character of Joe Colton was a replacement for fan-favorite Joe character Sgt. Slaughter. Sgt. Slaughter stated that he "was originally supposed to be the part of Bruce Willis' [as] Sgt. Slaughter but because we had a conflict in toy companies, Hasbro and Mattel, I wasn't able to do it. It's one of those things, Rock (Dwayne Johnson) doesn't have a contract so he can do what he wants to do and he's been very successful".


title: G.I. Joe: Retaliation

text: In September, a casting call sheet leaked to the Internet revealed that Cobra Commander would appear in the sequel, though it was unknown who would play the character. Chu said that fans would get a glimpse of Destro in the film, but Christopher Eccleston would not reprise his role in the sequel. On May 1, 2012, it was confirmed by Jon Chu that "G.I. Joe: Retaliation"s Cobra Commander is Rex Lewis, the same character that Joseph Gordon-Levitt played in "The Rise of Cobra".


title: G.I. Joe: Retaliation

text: Principal photography began in August 2011 in Louisiana. On November 22, 2011, a crew member died in an accident at a New Orleans warehouse that was serving as a soundstage for the production. The incident happened while crew members were changing out a set. The battle on the Himalayas was shot in the south vertical assembly building at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility, that had been fitted with a green screen wall at a very steep angle with a lot of rigging above to swing the stunt people through.


title: G.I. Joe: Retaliation

text: Fort Pike in Louisiana stands in for Fort Sumter in South Carolina as the site of the climactic summit meeting of the leaders of nuclear-armed countries.


title: G.I. Joe: Retaliation

text: "Retaliation" had 700 visual effects shots, which were mostly handled by three effects companies. Visual effects supervisor Zachary Kinnery declared that while the visuals aimed for the "big and bold" typical of the franchise, "Retaliation" would be the first to attempt "a bit more of that gritty realism." The major part of the effects was given to Digital Domain, which for 227 effects created digital vehicles and aircraft that had to "look fantastic but which are also plausible", given they had to match practical models, the Zeus satellite and a sequence where Zartan shows his nanomite-related disguise to the president—done with the same head replacement software developed for "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" and "". Industrial Light & Magic made the London destruction, a digital White House, and the mountain sword fight, which had computer-generated backgrounds and digital augmentation of the stunt people's performance. Method Studios was responsible for the desert attack, Firefly's explosive bugs, and malfunction on underground prison. Saints LA handled minor effects such as compositing and news graphics.


title: G.I. Joe: Retaliation

text: The film's score was composed by Henry Jackman. A soundtrack of the score was released in April 2013.


title: G.I. Joe: Retaliation

text: Previously slated for release on August 10, 2012 and June 29, 2012, Paramount announced in May 2012 that they were delaying the film's release until March 29, 2013 (but was later moved up to March 28, 2013), in order to convert the movie to 3D and boost interest in international markets.


title: G.I. Joe: Retaliation

text: The delay "gobsmacked" the film industry due to Paramount's implementation of a substantial advertising campaign beginning with a Super Bowl commercial, with the "warehouses full of" toys were waiting for the film's launch, and because it was one of only three Paramount-produced films scheduled for Summer 2012 (along with "The Dictator" and ""). The studio also wanted to avoid competing with Tatum's "Magic Mike", also scheduled for June 29.


title: G.I. Joe: Retaliation

text: The film was banned by the Central Board of Film Censors of Pakistan due to initial scenes at the beginning of the movie which depict the country negatively, according to film censor board officials. A Karachi-based cinema posted on its Facebook page that the film would not be screened due to restrictions by the censor board. The censorship was due to the film's depiction of Pakistan as an unstable state and the fictional portrayal of a "foreign invasion of Pakistan's nuclear installations", which caught the ire of film censor authorities. Consequently, restrictions were imposed on screening the movie countrywide. According to an official at the censor board, the film portrayed Pakistan negatively not only on the issue of the War on Terror but also on the international standing of the country, "There is a scene which shows the assassination of the Pakistani president and the imposition of martial law, which is not a fair representation of the country." Another cinema official said, "There were obviously several objectionable things which would never have passed the censors, but these things are also relevant to the content of the film."


title: G.I. Joe: Retaliation

text: A toyline for the film was confirmed by Hasbro in February 2012. Despite the movie's release being moved from June 2012 to March 2013, the initial assortments of figures, vehicles, and role-play items were shipped to retailers, and appeared on store shelves in May 2012. A "Variety" article was published stating that the already released figures had been pulled from the shelves and recalled by Hasbro, although the company's official statement indicated that existing product would be sold through. New product shipments were halted by Hasbro, but existing "Retaliation" figures were available in Target, Wal-Mart, and Toys R Us as late as December 2012. The toyline was re-released in the United States in February 2013. A four-part limited series comic book titled "G.I. Joe: Retaliation Movie Prequel" was published by IDW Publishing from February 2012 to April 2012. Written by John Barber, it acts as a prequel to the movie.


title: G.I. Joe: Retaliation

text: "G.I. Joe: Retaliation" was released on DVD, Blu-ray, and Blu-ray 3D on July 30, 2013 by Paramount Home Entertainment. A Blu-ray "Extended Action Cut" added 12 minutes of footage and uncensored violence was also available, with the United States version being a Best Buy exclusive.


title: G.I. Joe: Retaliation

text: The film topped No. 1 on both the Blu-ray and DVD sales charts with at least 54% of both Blu-ray and DVD units sold. The film also topped weekend rentals too.


title: G.I. Joe: Retaliation

text: It was later released on Ultra HD Blu-ray on July 20, 2021 along with the first movie, to coincide with the theatrical release of "Snake Eyes".


title: G.I. Joe: Retaliation

text: "G.I. Joe: Retaliation" grossed $122.5 million in North America, $253.2 million internationally, and $375.7 million worldwide total, to a budget of $130–$155 million.


title: G.I. Joe: Retaliation

text: In North America, the film grossed $10.5 million on its opening day, debuting at the top of the box office. The film retained the No. 1 spot over the three-day weekend and grossed $40.5 million; however, the film's opening weekend fell 14.2% against "The Rise of Cobra"s $54.7 million debut.


title: G.I. Joe: Retaliation

text: The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 29% based on 180 reviews, with an average rating of 4.5/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Though arguably superior to its predecessor, "G.I. Joe: Retaliation" is overwhelmed by its nonstop action and too nonsensical and vapid to leave a lasting impression." At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average rating to reviews, the film has an average score of 41 out of 100, based on 31 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.


title: G.I. Joe: Retaliation

text: Alan Scherstuhl of "The Village Voice" wrote in a positive review that "this [movie] pushes right past "competent" into "mostly legitimately enjoyable"" but added that "the movie is still dumb as catbutt. It's an honest and accomplished dumbness, however, where the stupidest stuff seems to be there because the movie would be less fun without it." "The Hollywood Reporter"s Todd McCarthy was critical about the film's use of 3D and accurate reflection of the franchise's comic book and cartoon origins, but predicted it would still earn better than its predecessor, "". Owen Gleiberman of "Entertainment Weekly" gave the film a grade of "B−", calling it "well-executed technocratic action fluff" and commented: "In its dehumanized and trivial way, it's a triumph of razor-sharp, hyper-violent style over formulaic substance ... Hollywood has now evolved to the point that it can deliver these kinds of thrills with maximum brute force and keep the impact so light that the result can "still" be regarded as a 'harmless' diversion for 14-year-olds." Glen Heath Jr. of "Slant Magazine" gave it two out of four stars, criticizing the film's "cut-happy style" and plot, but lauding the action sequences and Chu's direction as "poetry in high-speed motion."


title: G.I. Joe: Retaliation

text: In a negative review, Betsey Sharkey of the "Los Angeles Times" panned the "overwhelmingly complicated, globe-hopping, enemies within, enemies without story line" and 3D but noted that "the humor, when it works, offers 'Retaliation' some redemption." She ended with: "It's convoluted. Frankly no one should have to think that hard to keep up with the Joes." Another negative review came from "Variety" magazine's Justin Chang, who ridiculed the movie's large-scale destruction of foreign cities, writing: "Audiences who thrilled to the sight of Paris under biochemical attack in "Cobra" will be pleased to watch London endure an even more horrific fate here, although the sequence is tossed off in quick, almost ho-hum fashion, with no time to dwell on anything so exquisitely crass as the spectacle of the Eiffel Tower collapsing." He summarized the movie as "a more straight-faced brand of idiocy than its cheerfully dumb 2009 predecessor."


title: G.I. Joe: Retaliation

text: Writing for "Empire" magazine, Olly Richards gave the movie 2 stars out of 5 and compared it unfavorably with its predecessor, writing: "The first film you could at least laugh "at". This takes all its silly ingredients and smushes them down flat. 'Retaliation' over-promises and under-delivers." Richard Roeper of "Chicago Sun-Times" gave the movie 1.5 stars out of a possible four, branding it a "ridiculous and overblown debacle" that contained "nothing but well-packaged garbage" and further adding: "To say 'G.I. Joe: Retaliation' is a video game for the big screen is to insult a number of video games that are far more creative, challenging and better-looking."


title: G.I. Joe: Retaliation

text: At the 2013 Teen Choice Awards, "G.I. Joe: Retaliation" received four nominations (including Choice Movie: Action). Johnson was nominated for Favorite Male Buttkicker at the 2014 Kids' Choice Awards. The film was also nominated twice at the Golden Trailer Awards for Best Action.


title: G.I. Joe: Retaliation

text: In April 2013, reports surfaced that there would be a third "G.I. Joe" film, and it would likely be in 3D. The studio announced that Chu would return to direct the third film.


title: G.I. Joe: Retaliation

text: While at the 2013 San Diego Comic-Con, Chu talked about bringing Scarlett back in the next film. The writers of the second film are also thinking about bringing back the Baroness in the sequel. Johnson is interested in returning as Roadblock for the sequel, and Park has talked about a possible return as Snake Eyes and also including his pet wolf Timber. Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura has stated he is open to doing a "G.I. Joe/Transformers" crossover, which Chu stated that he would be interested in directing. Bonaventura told "Beijing News" that he hoped that Johnson and Willis would return, the script is still in the writing stage, and that they are considering adding a third important role.


title: G.I. Joe: Retaliation

text: By September of the same year, Chu was confirmed to direct the film, along with "Snow White and the Huntsman" writer Evan Daugherty to pen the film's script. On December 5, 2013, Daugherty talked about writing the film's script and his feelings about Duke being killed, but Chu told MTV that Tatum may return as Duke in the sequel. In an interview with "Collider", Johnson stated that he believes Chu may not return to direct, due to working on the live-action "Jem" film, but they may find another director for the film. It was revealed that the third film will have a 2016 release date. In June 2014, di Bonaventura told "Collider" in an interview that they're meeting with new directors and filming may start in early 2015. The following month, "Variety" reported that Jonathan Lemkin will write the script for the film and will focus on Roadblock with Johnson returning. February of the following year, "Film Divider" reported that the twins Tomax and Xamot and Matt Trakker from the TV series "M.A.S.K." will be appearing. In April, the studio hired Aaron Berg to write the film, and D. J. Caruso to direct the film. November 2015, "Deadline" reported that Akiva Goldsman will lead a writers room for the next "G.I. Joe" film. In September 2016, Byung-Hun Lee told LRM Review that the studio doing the third film is waiting on the actors to return, including Johnson.


title: G.I. Joe: Retaliation

text: In January 2017, Caruso stated that the script for the crossover movie is now being written. In May 2017, Dwayne Johnson stated that if the opportunity arises he would appear in any future "G.I. Joe" film, and that he hopes to be a part of the franchise expansion as well. It was announced in September 2017 that the third film is intended to serve more as a reboot of the franchise. "The Hollywood Reporter" has reported that Paramount announced the film will be released on March 27, 2020. In May 2018, "That Hashtag Show" reported that the film will be titled "G.I. Joe: Ever Vigilant" with Josh Appelbaum and André Nemec writing the film's script and that the studio are hoping to have Johnson sign on to reprise the role of Roadblock. The plot will reportedly feature his character assembling a new team of Joes with Dania Janack, Dr. Adele Burkhart, Wild Bill, Barbecue, General Flagg, Doc, and Keel-Haul joining forces to stop Tomax and Xamot Paoli from launching a dark matter WMD. The film is said to feature a cameo role for Cobra Commander. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura revealed that there have been some scripts for the sequel are currently in development.


title: Steve Harrington

text: Steve Harrington is a character from the Netflix television show "Stranger Things", portrayed by Joe Keery. While starting out as a typical unlikable jock, Steve has grown into a more protecting and caring character as the show has progressed, a development that has received widespread acclaim from critics and fans alike. This has led to him becoming one of the show’s most beloved and enduring characters; Steve is often regarded as the show's breakout character. Initially a part of the recurring cast, Keery was promoted to the main cast in the second season. Steve is a side antagonist turned protagonist at the end of season 1, and one of the main protagonists of season 2, season 3, and season 4.


title: Steve Harrington

text: Steve is initially portrayed as a stereotypical 1980s popular “jock”; he has an antagonistic personality, yet attracts the attention and admiration of many students. Steve is shown to be dating Nancy Wheeler, but after he harasses Jonathan Byers by breaking his camera, Nancy seems to become close to Jonathan. After Steve sees Jonathan and Nancy together, he accosts Jonathan, but is beaten by him in a fight. This causes Steve to see the error of his ways and abandon his former friends. Traveling to the Byers' home to apologize to the pair, he becomes involved in Nancy and Jonathan's fight against the Demogorgon, which they successfully banish. At the conclusion of the season, Nancy buys Jonathan a new camera and Steve continues his relationship with Nancy, while becoming more friendly towards Jonathan after their shared experience.


title: Steve Harrington

text: Steve's relationship with Nancy is stressed, and he breaks up with her after she will not say she loves him. He calls her out after her drunken tirade at a party, during which she called their relationship fake. Steve also finds himself at odds with Billy Hargrove, a new student at the school who seeks to become its tough guy. Steve becomes involved with Mike Wheeler and his friends after Dustin asks him to help find his "pet" D'Artagnan, unaware it is a creature from the Upside Down that his friends call a “Demodog”. Steve and Dustin bond over how to talk to girls, and soon Steve also takes Mike, Lucas, and Max, Billy’s step-sister, under his wing. Steve protects the children as Demodogs start ravaging across Hawkins, giving time for Eleven and Jim Hopper to close the gate to the Upside Down, and for Will Byers to have the Mind Flayer exorcised from his body. He also defends the kids against Billy, and is knocked unconscious before Max is able to disable her brother. Later, during the night of the Snow Ball, a school dance, Steve gives Dustin advice while driving him to the dance, finally acknowledging a caring side to himself.


title: Steve Harrington

text: Now graduated from high school, Steve works at the Scoops Ahoy! ice cream parlor at Starcourt Mall with Robin Buckley (Maya Hawke), a former classmate who teases him frequently. Dustin, having returned from science camp and set up a ham radio tower to talk with his new girlfriend Suzie in Utah, gets Steve's help to translate a Russian radio message he overheard. Robin helps with the translation, indicating a site at the mall, and Lucas' sister Erica (Priah Ferguson) is recruited to sneak into the site in exchange for free ice cream. Steve, Robin, Dustin, and Erica find a secret Russian base under the mall that is attempting to open a portal to the Upside Down. Though Steve and Robin are captured and drugged, Dustin and Erica help save them and return to the surface to warn the others. Whilst coming down off the drugs, Steve admits he is attracted to Robin and learns that Robin is a lesbian, yet accepts her sexuality. In the following battle with the Mind Flayer, Steve helps to stop the possessed Billy from ramming the car that the others are using to escort Eleven away, and joins the rest in distracting the Mind Flayer with fireworks as the gate in the Russian base is shut down. With the mall's destruction from the battle, Steve and Robin lose their jobs at Scoops Ahoy! and get work at the local Family Video.


title: Steve Harrington

text: In spring 1986, Steve continues to work at the video store with Robin, and remains close friends with Dustin. After high school cheerleader Chrissy Cunningham is found brutally murdered inside the trailer of student Eddie Munson, Steve and Robin help Dustin and Max locate Eddie, to whom they explain the existence of the Upside Down. They name the entity that killed Chrissy "Vecna".


title: Steve Harrington

text: When Vecna possesses Max, Steve alongside Dustin and Lucas helps her escape his control by playing her favorite song, "Running Up That Hill", on her headphones, having learned from Nancy and Robin that music can break his spell. Based on Max's illustrations of what she saw while possessed, Steve and the others investigate the abandoned home of Victor Creel, who was arrested for the deaths of his wife and daughter in the 1950s, though the gang believes Vecna to have committed the murders. They notice the lights flickering and later exploding while Vecna claims his third victim.


title: Steve Harrington

text: Dustin later notices his compass misbehaving and realizes that another gate to the Upside Down must be nearby. The gang traces the gate to Lover's Lake; Steve dives down to investigate, but is dragged into the Upside Down by a tendril and swarmed by bat-like creatures. Nancy, Robin and Eddie arrive and help him fight them off. While traveling the Upside Down, Eddie notices that Steve is still in love with Nancy and encourages him to act on his feelings.


title: Steve Harrington

text: The group finds another gate at the site of Chrissy's murder and uses it to escape the Upside Down, but Nancy is briefly possessed by Vecna and shown a vision of Hawkins being torn apart by rifts. The group resolves to kill Vecna that night; Max volunteers to bait Vecna into possessing her, allowing the others to attack Vecna while he is distracted. Steve, Nancy and Robin go to the Creel house in the Upside Down; on the way, Steve admits to Nancy that he is still in love with her, and thanks her for making him a better person.


title: Steve Harrington

text: The group finds Vecna inside the Creel house; Steve and Robin set him ablaze using Molotov cocktails while Nancy shoots him, apparently killing him. However, Vecna had managed to briefly kill Max, allowing his fourth gate to open and unleash faults that tear through Hawkins. Two days later, the town recovers from an "earthquake". Steve, Dustin and Robin volunteer to help affected victims. However, the Upside Down begins to infiltrate Hawkins.


title: Steve Harrington

text: The character appears in "Dead by Daylight" as a DLC character along with Nancy Wheeler as a fellow survivor being hunted by the Demogorgon throughout the Hawkins Lab.


title: Steve Harrington

text: The character development of Steve in the second season of the show has been met with acclaim and has led to Steve becoming a fan-favorite character and critical darling on the show, and Joe Keery has received critical acclaim for his performance. The transition from stereotypical bully and lothario to a caring and protective character was lauded by critics and audiences. Fans, in particular, enjoyed his budding friendship with Dustin Henderson and the protective way he began looking after the kids, which has led to many fans referring to him as "Mom Steve".


title: Steve Harrington

text: The progression of the character continued in the third season with the introduction of his co-worker Robin Buckley. The chemistry between Keery and Maya Hawke was critically acclaimed, as was the development of a new comedic side to Steve's character. In particular, Steve's positive reaction to Robin's coming out as a lesbian in the '80s has been praised for its thoughtful and understanding nature.


title: Rotten.com

text: Rotten.com was a shock site active from 1996 to 2012. The website, which had the tagline "An archive of disturbing illustration", was devoted to morbid curiosities, pictures of violent acts, deformities, autopsy or forensic photographs, depictions of perverse sex acts, and disturbing or misanthropic historical curiosities. Founded in 1996, it was run by a developer known as Soylent Communications. Site updates slowed in 2009, with the final update in February 2012. The website's front page was last archived in February 2018.


title: Rotten.com

text: In late 1996, Soylent wrote a program that identified unregistered Internet domain names consisting of one word with a corresponding dictionary entry. "Rotten" was one of the unclaimed words, and Soylent went on to register rotten.com in the same year. Rotten.com presented itself as a bastion of online free speech, in an era when censorship rules in some countries had begun to restrict internet access.


title: Rotten.com

text: Rotten.com had a spartan layout; no thumbnail images were present next to links, and the links had one-line descriptions couched in morbid humor, often carrying no hints at their content. Content consisted of user-submitted images, with developers rarely posting content themselves. Though submissions were marked as "real", often they were misattributed; in one instance, a file submitted as "motorcycle.jpg" was given the description of depicting a motorbike accident, but the developers admitted it was probably an attempted shotgun suicide.


title: Rotten.com

text: Rotten.com received an alleged image of medical personnel recovering Princess Diana's body from a car accident, though this was later confirmed as fake. However, due to wide interest in the crash, the image was posted anyway, resulting in a large traffic spike. The website was also one of the first websites to publish images of the September 11 jumpers from the Twin Towers, under the title "Swan Dive".


title: Rotten.com

text: Rotten.com was threatened with many lawsuits over the years, mostly in the form of cease and desist notices. These ranged from serious matters, such as requests to remove pictures of dead relatives from the site, to Burlington Coat Factory asking to take down 'trenchcoat.org', a domain bought by Rotten.com as a Trenchcoat Mafia reference, though it simply linked to Burlington Coat Factory's webpage.


title: Rotten.com

text: On June 24, 2005, the US federal government ordered that the "Fuck of the Month" section of the site be removed, along with content from several ancillary sites. In posting the page's removal notice, the site's moderator criticized supporters of both Alberto Gonzales and the Bush Administration for the enablement of censorship.


title: Rotten.com

text: In 2003, The Rotten Library was created as an encyclopedia to supplement the website. The Library contained hundreds of articles under 17 different headings, including culture, art, medicine, crime, travel, and the occult. Articles contained detailed research, timelines, and occasionally included previously unseen images of various well-known events. The headings inside of entries are humorous in nature, with a description of the subject (for example, a medical condition) in an informal and often insulting tone. In the entry dedicated to eating disorders, the heading above the section for bulimia is titled "Betty Bulimia."


title: Rotten.com

text: In late 1999, "The Daily Rotten" was started by Thomas E. Dell, which published stories on a daily basis, focusing mostly on terrorism, murder, suicide, abuse and excrement. "Daily Rotten", also known as "Rotten News", is driven by user submissions, which are edited by a self-described "Rotten Staff Duder". This also features comments for each one of the articles, posted by the registered members; they usually bring similar histories or gruesome images. They refer to themselves as "rotteneers", a satirical reference to Walt Disney's Mouseketeers, and/or "rottentots".


title: Rotten.com

text: Rotten.com launched Boners.com in response to viewers who wanted a daily pictures page alongside the Daily Rotten newsboard. The word "boner" suggests an embarrassing mistake or a male organ in a state of arousal. The images typically consisted of amusing public signs, phallic imagery, and members of the public in embarrassing situations.


title: Rotten.com

text: In 2000, The Gaping Maw – an editorial/commentary archive – was founded. Most of the articles were written by cartoonist Tristan Farnon under the alias "Spigot" (from "Leisure Town") or by other webmasters. The pages contained news, satire, and commentary on modern society. Along with the "Rotten Library", this improved Rotten.com's standing in many communities since it introduced a humane and intellectual aspect to the website. On June 22, 2005, "The Gaping Maw" went dark to comply with new government bookkeeping requirements regarding the distribution of pornography, specifically governmental age-verification of models, under . All articles were taken down, and the site's title page was replaced with a statement lamenting the passage of the laws, headed by the banner, "CENSORED BY US GOVERNMENT!". In January 2006, "The Gaping Maw" came back online with some articles heavily edited.


title: Rotten.com

text: In November 2003, the Rotten Dead Pool was launched. The Dead Pool was a game in which players picked ten people they believed would die over the course of the next 12 months. A point was awarded to a player for each of their correct picks. A pick did not count as correct if the pick was executed or murdered, or died some other way, after the 12 months had passed.


title: Rotten.com

text: In mid-2002, Rotten.com launched NNDB, an online database. NNDB is a steadily-updated website that contained information about thousands of notable people. The news section ceased updating on January 16, 2016, and the celebrity deaths section last updated on December 31, 2021. The website itself is still live.


title: Rotten.com

text: "Sports Dignity" was a gallery of pictures showing embarrassing or NSFW incidents in sports games and tournaments.


title: Vasectomy

text: Vasectomy, or vasoligation, is an elective surgical procedure for male sterilization or permanent contraception. During the procedure, the male vasa deferentia are cut and tied or sealed so as to prevent sperm from entering into the urethra and thereby prevent fertilization of a female through sexual intercourse. Vasectomies are usually performed in a physician's office, medical clinic, or, when performed on an animal, in a veterinary clinic. Hospitalization is not normally required as the procedure is not complicated, the incisions are small, and the necessary equipment routine. The leading potential complication is post-vasectomy pain syndrome.


title: Vasectomy

text: There are several methods by which a surgeon might complete a vasectomy procedure, all of which occlude (i.e., "seal") at least one side of each vas deferens. To help reduce anxiety and increase patient comfort, those who have an aversion to needles may consider a ""no-needle"" application of anesthesia while the 'no-scalpel' or 'open-ended' techniques help to accelerate recovery times and increase the chance of healthy recovery.


title: Vasectomy

text: Due to the simplicity of the surgery, a vasectomy usually takes less than 30 minutes to complete. After a short recovery at the doctor's office (usually less than an hour), the patient is sent home to rest. Because the procedure is minimally invasive, many vasectomy patients find that they can resume their typical sexual behavior within a week, and do so with little or no discomfort.


title: Vasectomy

text: Because the procedure is considered a permanent method of contraception and is not easily reversed, patients are usually counseled and advised to consider how the long-term outcome of a vasectomy might affect them both emotionally and physically. The procedure is not often encouraged for young single childless people as their chances for biological parenthood are thereby permanently reduced, sometimes completely.


title: Vasectomy

text: A vasectomy is done to prevent fertility in males. It ensures that in most cases the person will be sterile after confirmation of success following surgery. The procedure is regarded as permanent because vasectomy reversal is costly and often does not restore the male's sperm count or sperm motility to prevasectomy levels. Those with vasectomies have a very small (nearly zero) chance of successfully impregnating someone, but a vasectomy has no effect on rates of sexually transmitted infections.


title: Vasectomy

text: After vasectomy, the testes remain in the scrotum where Leydig cells continue to produce testosterone and other male hormones that continue to be secreted into the bloodstream. Some studies have found that sexual desire after vasectomy may be somewhat diminished.


title: Vasectomy

text: When the vasectomy is complete, sperm cannot exit the body through the penis. Sperm is still produced by the testicles but is broken down and absorbed by the body. Much fluid content is absorbed by membranes in the epididymis, and much solid content is broken down by the responding macrophages and reabsorbed via the bloodstream. Sperm is matured in the epididymis for about a month before leaving the testicles. After vasectomy, the membranes must increase in size to absorb and store more fluid; this triggering of the immune system causes more macrophages to be recruited to break down and reabsorb more solid content. Within one year after vasectomy, sixty to seventy percent of those vasectomized develop antisperm antibodies. In some cases, vasitis nodosa, a benign proliferation of the ductular epithelium, can also result. The accumulation of sperm increases pressure in the vas deferens and epididymis. The entry of the sperm into the scrotum can cause sperm granulomas to be formed by the body to contain and absorb the sperm which the body will treat as a foreign biological substance (much like a virus or bacterium).


title: Vasectomy

text: Vasectomy is the most effective permanent form of contraception available to males. (Removing the entire vas deferens would very likely be more effective, but it is not something that is regularly done.) In nearly every way that vasectomy can be compared to tubal ligation it has a more positive outlook. Vasectomy is more cost effective, less invasive, has techniques that are emerging that may facilitate easier reversal, and has a much lower risk of postoperative complications.


title: Vasectomy

text: Early failure rates, i.e. pregnancy within a few months after vasectomy, typically result from unprotected sexual intercourse too soon after the procedure while some sperm continue to pass through the vasa deferentia. Most physicians and surgeons who perform vasectomies recommend one (sometimes two) postprocedural semen specimens to verify a successful vasectomy; however, many people fail to return for verification tests citing inconvenience, embarrassment, forgetfulness, or certainty of sterility. In January 2008, the FDA cleared a home test called SpermCheck Vasectomy that allows patients to perform postvasectomy confirmation tests themselves; however, compliance for postvasectomy semen analysis in general remains low.


title: Vasectomy

text: Late failure, i.e. pregnancy following spontaneous recanalization of the vasa deferentia, has also been documented. This occurs because the epithelium of the vas deferens (similar to the epithelium of some other human body parts) is capable of regenerating and creating a new tube if the vas deferens is damaged and/or severed. Even when as much as five centimeters (or two inches) of the vas deferens is removed, the vas deferens can still grow back together and become reattached—thus allowing sperm to once again pass and flow through the vas deferens, restoring one's fertility.


title: Vasectomy

text: The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists states there is a generally agreed-upon rate of late failure of about one in 2000 vasectomies— better than tubal ligations for which the failure rate is one in every 200 to 300 cases. A 2005 review including both early and late failures described a total of 183 recanalizations from 43,642 vasectomies (0.4%), and sixty pregnancies after 92,184 vasectomies (0.07%).


title: Vasectomy

text: Short-term possible complications include infection, bruising and bleeding into the scrotum resulting in a collection of blood known as a hematoma. A study in 2012 demonstrated an infection rate of 2.5% postvasectomy. The stitches on the small incisions required are prone to irritation, though this can be minimized by covering them with gauze or small adhesive bandages. The primary long-term complications are chronic pain conditions or syndromes that can affect any of the scrotal, pelvic or lower-abdominal regions, collectively known as post-vasectomy pain syndrome. Though vasectomy results in increases in circulating immune complexes, these increases are transient. Data based on animal and human studies indicate these changes do not result in increased incidence of atherosclerosis. The risk of testicular cancer is not affected by vasectomy.


title: Vasectomy

text: In 2014 the AUA reaffirmed that vasectomy is not a risk factor for prostate cancer and that it is not necessary for physicians to routinely discuss prostate cancer in their preoperative counseling of vasectomy patients. There remains ongoing debate regarding whether vasectomy is associated with prostate cancer. A 2017 meta-analysis found no statistically significant increase in risk. A 2019 study of 2.1 million Danish males found that vasectomy increased their incidence of prostate cancer by 15%. A 2020 meta-analysis found that vasectomy increased the incidence by 9%. Other recent studies agree on the 15% increase in risk of developing prostate cancer, but found that people who get a vasectomy are not more likely to die from prostate cancer than those without a vasectomy.


title: Vasectomy

text: Post-vasectomy pain syndrome is a chronic and sometimes debilitating condition that may develop immediately or several years after vasectomy. The most robust study of post-vasectomy pain, according to the American Urology Association's Vasectomy Guidelines 2012 (amended 2015) surveyed people just before their vasectomy and again 7 months later. Of those that responded and who said they did not have any scrotal pain prior to vasectomy, 7% had scrotal pain seven months later which they described as "Mild, a bit of a nuisance", 1.6% had pain that was "Moderate, require painkillers" and 0.9% had pain that was "quite severe and noticeably affecting their quality of life". Post-vasectomy pain can be constant orchialgia or epididymal pain (epididymitis), or it can be pain that occurs only at particular times such as with sexual intercourse, ejaculation, or physical exertion.


title: Vasectomy

text: Approximately 90% are generally reported in reviews as being satisfied with having had a vasectomy, while 7–10% of people regret their decision. For those in relationships, regret was less common when both people in the relationship agreed on the procedure.


title: Vasectomy

text: Younger people who receive a vasectomy are significantly more likely to regret and seek a reversal of their vasectomy, with one study showing people in their twenties being 12.5 times more likely to undergo a vasectomy reversal later in life (and including some who chose sterilization at a young age). Pre-vasectomy counseling is suggested for younger patients.


title: Vasectomy

text: An association between vasectomy and primary progressive aphasia, a rare variety of frontotemporal dementia, was reported. However, it is doubtful that there is a causal relationship. The putative mechanism is a cross-reactivity between brain and sperm, including the shared presence of neural surface antigens. In addition, the cytoskeletal tau protein has been found only to exist outside of the CNS in the manchette of sperm.


title: Vasectomy

text: The traditional incision approach of vasectomy involves numbing of the scrotum with local anesthetic (although some people's physiology may make access to the vas deferens more difficult in which case general anesthesia may be recommended) after which a scalpel is used to make two small incisions, one on each side of the scrotum at a location that allows the surgeon to bring each vas deferens to the surface for excision. The vasa deferentia are cut (sometimes a section may be removed altogether), separated, and then at least one side is sealed by ligating (suturing), cauterizing (electrocauterization), or clamping. There are several variations to this method that may improve healing, effectiveness, and which help mitigate long-term pain such as post-vasectomy pain syndrome or epididymitis, however the data supporting one over another are limited.


title: Vasectomy

text: The following vasectomy methods have purportedly had a better chance of later reversal but have seen less use by virtue of known higher failure rates (i.e., recanalization). An earlier clip device, the VasClip, is no longer on the market, due to unacceptably high failure rates.


title: Vasectomy

text: The VasClip method, though considered reversible, has had a higher cost and resulted in lower success rates. Also, because the vasa deferentia are not cut or tied with this method, it could technically be classified as other than a vasectomy. Vasectomy reversal (and the success thereof) was conjectured to be higher as it only required removing the Vas-Clip device. This method achieved limited use, and scant reversal data are available.


title: Vasectomy

text: Both vas occlusion techniques require the same basic patient setup: local anesthesia, puncturing of the scrotal sac for access of the vas, and then plug or injected plug occlusion. The success of the aforementioned vas occlusion techniques is not clear and data are still limited. Studies have shown, however, that the time to achieve sterility is longer than the more prominent techniques mentioned in the beginning of this article. The satisfaction rate of patients undergoing IVD techniques has a high rate of satisfaction with regard to the surgery experience itself.


title: Vasectomy

text: Sexual intercourse can usually be resumed in about a week (depending on recovery); however, pregnancy is still possible as long as the sperm count is above zero. Another method of contraception must be relied upon until a sperm count is performed either two months after the vasectomy or after 10–20 ejaculations have occurred.


title: Vasectomy

text: After a vasectomy, contraceptive precautions must be continued until azoospermia is confirmed. Usually two semen analyses at three and four months are necessary to confirm azoospermia. The British Andrological Society has recommended that a single semen analysis confirming azoospermia after sixteen weeks is sufficient.


title: Vasectomy

text: Post-vasectomy, testicles will continue to produce sperm cells. As before vasectomy, unused sperm are reabsorbed by the body.


title: Vasectomy

text: In order to allow the possibility of reproduction via artificial insemination after vasectomy, some opt for cryopreservation of sperm before sterilization. Dr Allan Pacey, senior lecturer in andrology at Sheffield University and secretary of the British Fertility Society, notes that those he sees for a vasectomy reversal which has not worked express wishing they had known they could have stored sperm. Pacey notes, "The problem is you're asking a man to foresee a future where he might not necessarily be with his current partner—and that may be quite hard to do when she's sitting next to you."


title: Vasectomy

text: The cost of cryo-preservation (sperm banking) may also be substantially less than alternative vaso-vasectomy procedures, compared to the costs of in-vitro fertilization (IVF) which usually run from $12,000 to $25,000.


title: Vasectomy

text: Sperm can be aspirated from the testicles or the epididymis, and while there is not enough for successful artificial insemination, there is enough to fertilize an ovum by intracytoplasmic sperm injection. This avoids the problem of antisperm antibodies and may result in a faster pregnancy. IVF may be less costly per cycle than reversal in some health-care systems, but a single IVF cycle is often insufficient for conception. Disadvantages include the need for procedures on the woman, and the standard potential side-effects of IVF for both the mother and the child.


title: Vasectomy

text: Although those considering vasectomies should not think of them as reversible, and most people and their partners are satisfied with the operation, life circumstances and outlooks can change, and there is a surgical procedure to reverse vasectomies using vasovasostomy (a form of microsurgery first performed by Earl Owen in 1971). Vasovasostomy is effective at achieving pregnancy in a variable percentage of cases, and total out-of-pocket costs in the United States are often upwards of $10,000. The typical success rate of pregnancy following a vasectomy reversal is around 55% if performed within 10 years, and drops to around 25% if performed after 10 years. After reversal, sperm counts and motility are usually much lower than pre-vasectomy levels. There is evidence that those who had a vasectomy may produce more abnormal sperm, which would explain why even a mechanically successful reversal does not always restore fertility. The higher rates of aneuploidy and diploidy in the sperm cells of those who have undergone vasectomy reversal may lead to a higher rate of birth defects.


title: Vasectomy

text: Some reasons that people seek vasectomy reversals include wanting a family with a new partner following a relationship breakdown or divorce, their original partner dying and subsequently going on to repartner and to want children, the unexpected death of a child, or a long-standing couple changing their minds some time later, often prompted by situations such as improved finances or existing children approaching the age of school or leaving home. Patients often comment that they never anticipated the possibility of a relationship breakdown or death, or how that might affect their situation at the time of having their vasectomy. A small number of vasectomy reversals are also performed in attempts to relieve post-vasectomy pain syndrome.


title: Vasectomy

text: Internationally, vasectomy rates are vastly different. While female sterilisation is the most widely used method worldwide, with 223 million women relying on it, only 28 million women rely on their partner's vasectomy. In the world's 69 least developed countries less than 0.1% of males use vasectomies on average. Of 54 African countries, only ten report measurable vasectomy use and only Swaziland, Botswana, and South Africa exceed 0.1% prevalence.


title: Vasectomy

text: In North America and Europe vasectomy usage is on the order of 10% with some countries reaching 20%. Despite its high efficacy, in the United States, vasectomy is utilized less than half the rate of the alternative female tubal ligation. According to the research, vasectomy in the US is least utilized among black and Latino populations, the groups that have the highest rates of female sterilization.


title: Vasectomy

text: New Zealand, in contrast, has higher levels of vasectomy than tubal ligation. 18% of all males, and 25% of all married males, have had a vasectomy. The age cohort with the highest level of vasectomy was 40–49, where 57% of males had taken it up. Canada, the UK, Bhutan and the Netherlands all have similar levels of uptake.


title: Vasectomy

text: The first recorded vasectomy was performed on a dog in 1823. A short time after that, R. Harrison of London performed the first human vasectomy—not for sterilization purposes, but to bring about atrophy of the prostate. Soon, however, it was believed to have benefits for eugenics. The first case report of vasectomy in the United States was in 1897, by A. J. Ochsner, a surgeon in Chicago, in a paper titled, "Surgical treatment of habitual criminals". He believed vasectomy to be a simple, effective means for stemming the tide of racial degeneration widely believed to be occurring. In 1902, Harry C. Sharp, the surgeon at the Indiana Reformatory, reported that he had sterilized 42 inmates in an effort to both reduce criminal behavior in those individuals and prevent the birth of future criminals.


title: Vasectomy

text: Not all vasectomies were performed with the goal of sterilization. Eugen Steinach (1861–1944), an Austrian physician, believed that a unilateral vasectomy (severing only one of the two vasa deferentia) in older individuals could restore general vigor and sexual potency, shrink enlarged prostates, and cure various ailments by somehow boosting the hormonal output of the vasectomized testicle. This surgery, which became very popular in the 1920s, was undertaken by many wealthy individuals, including Sigmund Freud and W. B. Yeats. Since these operations lacked rigorous controlled trials, any rejuvenating effect was likely due to the placebo effect, and with the later development of synthetic injectable hormones, this operation fell out of vogue.


title: Vasectomy

text: Vasectomy began to be regarded as a method of consensual birth control during the Second World War. The first vasectomy program on a national scale was launched in 1954 in India.


title: Vasectomy

text: The procedure is seldom performed on dogs, with castration remaining the preferred reproductive control option for canines. It is regularly performed on bulls.


title: Vasectomy

text: Vasectomy costs are (or may be) covered in different countries, as a method of both contraception or population control, with some offering it as a part of a national health insurance. The procedure was generally considered illegal in France until 2001, due to provisions in the Napoleonic Code forbidding "self-mutilation". No French law specifically mentioned vasectomy until a 2001 law on contraception and infanticide permitted the procedure.


title: Vasectomy

text: The U.S. Affordable Care Act (signed into law in 2010) does not cover vasectomies, although eight states require state-health insurance plans to cover the cost. These include: Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Vermont and Washington.


title: Vasectomy

text: Medical tourism, where a patient travels to a less-developed location where a procedure is cheaper to save money and combine convalescence with a vacation, is infrequently used for vasectomy due to its low cost, but is more likely to be used for vasectomy reversal. Many hospitals list vasectomy as being available. Medical tourism has been scrutinized by some governments for quality of care and postoperative care issues.


title: Vasectomy

text: In 1990, chairperson of the Irish Family Planning Association, and the Republic of Ireland's first vasectomy specialist, Andrew Rynne, was shot by a former client, but he survived. The incident is the subject of a short film, "The Vasectomy Doctor", by Paul Webster.


title: Lee Boyd Malvo

text: Lee Boyd Malvo (born February 18, 1985), also known as John Lee Malvo, is a convicted murderer who, along with John Allen Muhammad, committed a series of murders dubbed the D.C. sniper attacks over a three-week period in October 2002. Malvo was aged 17 during the span of the shootings. Currently, he is serving multiple life sentences at Red Onion State Prison in Virginia, a supermax prison. Muhammad was executed in 2009.


title: Lee Boyd Malvo

text: Although the two men's actions were classified by the media as psychopathy attributable to serial killer characteristics, researchers have debated whether their psychopathy meets this classification or that of spree killing.


title: Lee Boyd Malvo

text: The Beltway sniper attacks was the last of a series of shootings across the United States connected to these individuals which began on the West Coast. Muhammad had befriended the juvenile Malvo and enlisted him in the attacks. According to Craig Cooley, one of Malvo's defense attorneys, Malvo believed Muhammad when he told him that the $10 million ransom sought from the U.S. government to stop the sniper killings would be used to establish a Utopian society for 140 homeless black children on a Canadian compound. In 2012, Malvo claimed that he was sexually abused by John Allen Muhammad.


title: Lee Boyd Malvo

text: Lee Boyd Malvo was born on February 18, 1985, to Leslie Malvo, a mason, and Una James, a seamstress. The couple, who never married, lived in Kingston, Jamaica. Una James left Leslie Malvo in 1990, when Lee Malvo was 5 years old. James and Malvo moved to the hill-town of Endeavour, Jamaica, to be with her sister Marie Lawrence for almost a year.


title: Lee Boyd Malvo

text: They moved back to Kingston, and later to St. Martin. When Malvo was 9 years old he was sent to live with his aunt Marie, where he stayed for almost a year. In sixth grade, Malvo did so well on an entrance exam that he was sent to York Castle High School.


title: Lee Boyd Malvo

text: Jamaican pastor Lorenzo King baptized Malvo into the Seventh-day Adventist Church at 14 years of age in 1999. Malvo later moved to Antigua in 1999 to be with his mother. He registered at Antigua and Barbuda Seventh-day Adventist School, where he got good grades and also won a school award in the 100 meter run.


title: Lee Boyd Malvo

text: Malvo and his mother, Una Sceon James, first met John Allen Muhammad in Antigua and Barbuda around 1999, where she and Muhammad developed a strong friendship. Later, Una left Antigua for Fort Myers, Florida, using false documents. She left her son with Muhammad, reportedly planning to have him follow her later. Malvo was converted to Islam by Muhammad in March 2001. Muhammad also isolated Malvo from his mother.


title: Lee Boyd Malvo

text: Malvo arrived illegally in Miami in 2001, and in December of that year, he and his mother were apprehended by the Border Patrol in Bellingham, Washington. In January 2002, Malvo was released on a $1,500 bond. Malvo subsequently lived in a homeless shelter with Muhammad in Bellingham. Malvo enrolled in Bellingham High School with Muhammad falsely listed as his father. He did not make any friends, according to his classmates.


title: Lee Boyd Malvo

text: While in the Tacoma, Washington area, according to his statements to investigators, Malvo shoplifted a Bushmaster XM-15 from Bull's Eye Shooter Supply and practiced his marksmanship on the Bull's Eye firing range adjacent to the gun shop. Under federal laws, neither Muhammad nor Malvo were legally allowed to purchase or possess guns, with both classified as prohibited persons under the Gun Control Act of 1968.


title: Lee Boyd Malvo

text: Malvo was initially arrested under federal charges, but they were dropped. He was transferred to Virginian custody and sent to jail in Fairfax County. He was charged by the Commonwealth of Virginia for two capital crimes: The murder of FBI analyst Linda Franklin "in the commission of an act of terrorism" and the murder of more than one person in a three-year period.


title: Lee Boyd Malvo

text: He was also charged with the unlawful use of a firearm in the murder of Franklin. Initially, a Fairfax attorney, Michael Arif, was appointed to represent him, along with Thomas B. Walsh and Mark J. Petrovich. Later, prominent Richmond attorney Craig Cooley was appointed to the team and assumed a leadership role. While in jail, Malvo made a recorded confession to Detective Samuel Walker in which he stated that he ""intended to kill them all"".


title: Lee Boyd Malvo

text: Due to extensive pre-trial publicity around the entire Washington metropolitan area, a change of venue was granted. The trial was moved more than 150 miles to Chesapeake, Virginia. Malvo pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to all charges on the grounds that he was under Muhammad's complete control. One of Malvo's psychiatric witnesses testified that Muhammad, a member of Nation of Islam, had indoctrinated Malvo into believing that the proceeds of an extortion attempt would be used to begin a new nation of only pure black young persons somewhere in Canada.


title: Lee Boyd Malvo

text: During the trial, Cooley said that violent video games had contributed significantly to Malvo's state of mind and his willingness to commit murder. Cooley said, "He's trained and desensitized with video games, computer games, to train him to shoot human forms over and over." Sociologists Lawrence Kutner and Cheryl K. Olson, however, argue in their book "Grand Theft Childhood" that other factors were much more significant. "In court, Lee Malvo admitted that he trained by shooting a real gun at paper plates that represented human heads. Also, Malvo had a long history of antisocial and criminal behavior, including torturing small animals, one of the best predictors of future violent criminal behavior."


title: Lee Boyd Malvo

text: On December 18, 2003, after nearly 14 hours of deliberation, a jury convicted Malvo of both charges. On December 23, the jury recommended a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. On March 10, 2004, Malvo was sentenced to life in prison without parole. However, the life sentence was overturned in 2016 when Virginia abolished life without parole for juveniles.


title: Lee Boyd Malvo

text: On October 26, 2004, under a plea bargain to avoid a possible death penalty, Malvo entered an Alford plea to the charges of murdering Kenneth Bridges and attempting to murder Caroline Seawell while Malvo was in Spotsylvania County, Virginia. He also pleaded guilty to two firearms charges and agreed not to appeal his conviction for the murder of Franklin. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole for murder, plus eight years imprisonment for the weapons charges.


title: Lee Boyd Malvo

text: One Virginia prosecutor in Prince William County had stated he would wait to decide whether to try Malvo on additional capital charges in his jurisdiction until the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on whether juveniles may be subject to execution. In light of the March 1, 2005 Supreme Court decision in "Roper v. Simmons" that the Eighth Amendment prohibits execution for crimes committed when under age 18, the prosecutors in Prince William County decided not to pursue the charges against Malvo. Prosecutors in Maryland, Louisiana, and Alabama were still interested in putting both Malvo and Muhammad on trial.


title: Lee Boyd Malvo

text: As Malvo was 17 when he committed the crimes, he cannot face the death penalty, but still may be extradited to Alabama, Louisiana, and other states for prosecution. At the outset of the Beltway sniper prosecutions, the primary reason for extraditing the two suspects from Maryland, where they were arrested, to Virginia was the differences in how the two states deal with the death penalty. While the death penalty was allowed in Maryland, it applied only to persons who were adults at the time of their crimes, whereas Virginia had also allowed the death penalty for offenders who had been juveniles when their crimes were committed.


title: Lee Boyd Malvo

text: A death sentence was more likely to result in execution in Virginia than in Maryland, which abolished its death penalty in 2013.


title: Lee Boyd Malvo

text: On June 16, 2006, Malvo told authorities that he and Muhammad were guilty of four additional shootings in 2002: A man killed in Los Angeles, California, during a robbery in February or March; a 76-year-old man who survived a shooting on May 18 at a golf course in Clearwater, Florida; a man shot to death while doing yard work in Denton, Texas, May 27; and 54 year-old John Gaeta, who survived being shot on August 1 during a robbery outside a shopping mall near Baton Rouge, Louisiana.


title: Lee Boyd Malvo

text: On October 10, 2006, Malvo pleaded guilty to the six murders he was charged with in Maryland. On October 26, he told police that he and Muhammad had killed Jerry Taylor, 60, as Taylor practiced chip shots at a Tucson, Arizona, golf course in March 2002. Tucson detectives interviewed Malvo about Taylor, who died from a single gunshot fired at long range, but did not disclose their findings. On November 8, Malvo was sentenced to six consecutive life sentences without possibility of parole.


title: Lee Boyd Malvo

text: In 2003, Malvo and Muhammad were named in a major civil lawsuit by the Legal Action Project of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence on behalf of two of their victims who were seriously wounded and the families of some of those murdered. Co-defendants Bull's Eye Shooter Supply and Bushmaster Firearms contributed to a landmark $2.5 million out-of-court settlement in late 2004.


title: Lee Boyd Malvo

text: In Muhammad's May 2006 trial in Montgomery County, Maryland, Malvo took the stand and confessed to a more detailed version of the pair's plans. Malvo, after extensive counseling, admitted that he had been lying in the statement he made after his arrest when he admitted to being the triggerman for every shooting. Malvo claimed that he had said this to protect Muhammad from the death penalty because it was more difficult to achieve the death penalty for a minor. Malvo stated, "I'm not proud of myself. I'm just trying to make amends", expressing his regret in the shootings. In his two days of testimony, Malvo outlined detailed aspects of all the shootings.


title: Lee Boyd Malvo

text: Part of his testimony concerned Muhammad's complete plan, which consisted of three phases in the Washington, D.C. and Baltimore metro areas. Phase One consisted of meticulously planning, mapping and practicing their locations around the D.C. area so that after each shooting they could quickly leave the area on a predetermined path and move to the next location. Muhammad's goal in Phase One was to kill six white people a day for 30 days. Malvo went on to describe how Phase One did not go as planned due to heavy traffic and the lack of a clear shot and/or getaway at different locations.


title: Lee Boyd Malvo

text: Phase Two was meant to take place in Baltimore. Malvo described how this phase was close to being implemented, but was never carried out. Phase Two was intended to begin by killing a pregnant woman by shooting her in the abdomen. The next step would have been to shoot and kill a Baltimore police officer. At the officer's funeral, they would plant several improvised explosive devices. These explosives were intended to kill a large number of police since many police would attend another officer's funeral. More bombs were then to be detonated as ambulances arrived at the scene.


title: Lee Boyd Malvo

text: The last phase was to take place immediately after Phase Two: to extort several million dollars from the U.S. government. This money would be used to finance a larger plan to travel north into Canada and recruit other effectively orphaned boys to use weapons and stealth and send them out to commit shootings across the country.


title: Lee Boyd Malvo

text: As of 2014, Malvo is incarcerated at the Red Onion State Prison as Virginia Department of Corrections inmate 1180834.


title: Annabelle: Creation

text: Annabelle: Creation is a 2017 American supernatural horror film directed by David F. Sandberg, written by Gary Dauberman and produced by Peter Safran and James Wan. It is a prequel to 2014's "Annabelle" and the fourth installment in "The Conjuring" Universe franchise. The film stars Stephanie Sigman, Talitha Bateman, Anthony LaPaglia, and Miranda Otto, and depicts the possessed Annabelle doll's origin.


title: Annabelle: Creation

text: In October 2015, it was confirmed that an "Annabelle" sequel was in development; it was later revealed that the film would be a prequel rather than a sequel. "Lights Out" director David F. Sandberg replaced John R. Leonetti as director, with Dauberman returning to write the script and Safran and Wan returning to produce. Principal photography began on June 27, 2016, in Los Angeles, California, and concluded on August 15, 2016.


title: Annabelle: Creation

text: "Annabelle: Creation" premiered at the LA Film Festival on June 19, 2017, and was theatrically released in the United States on August 11, 2017. The film grossed over $306million worldwide and received generally positive reviews from critics, who noted it as an improvement over its predecessor. A sequel, "Annabelle Comes Home", was released on June 26, 2019.


title: Annabelle: Creation

text: A dollmaker named Samuel Mullins and his wife Esther grieve for the loss of their seven-year-old daughter Annabelle, nicknamed "Bee", who dies when she accidentally steps in front of a car.


title: Annabelle: Creation

text: Twelve years later, the Mullins open their home to provide shelter for Sister Charlotte and six girls left homeless by the closing of their orphanage. Despite having been warned to avoid Bee's locked bedroom, Janice, a young orphan disabled by polio, discovers a note saying "Find me" and sneaks into the room, which has mysteriously become unlocked. She finds a key for Bee's closet and opens it, where she sees an eerie porcelain doll. This unwittingly releases a powerful demon that begins to terrorize the girls.


title: Annabelle: Creation

text: One night, the demon, taking Bee's form, appears to Janice, saying that it wants her soul. Although she attempts to get away using a stairlift, the demon recalls the stairlift and hurls her violently down to the ground floor, leaving her severely injured and confined to a wheelchair. Janice's best friend Linda is tormented by the demon. One morning, the demon, posing as Sister Charlotte, wheels Janice into the old barn, where, in the form of Bee, it attacks and possesses her after throwing up black bile directly into Janice's mouth. Linda notices changes in Janice's behavior and tells Samuel that Janice snuck into Bee's room and found the doll. Samuel trusts Linda. Janice, who can now walk, transforms into the demon and brutally kills Samuel who follows her while holding a crucifix, forcing him to drop it. Outside, Sister Charlotte hears his screams and is horrified to find him dead.


title: Annabelle: Creation

text: Linda takes Janice's doll and throws it into the well. A strange noise comes from the well and she is almost dragged into it, but Sister Charlotte saves her. Alarmed, Sister Charlotte speaks with the disfigured Esther, who is confined to her bedroom. Esther explains that after Bee's death, they prayed to whatever entity would grant their wish to see their daughter again. An unknown entity answered their prayer and though they briefly saw Bee's spirit, the entity convinced them to transfer its essence into one of Samuel's crafted dolls. They happily agreed but soon realized they had attracted a demon looking for a human host. One night, Esther saw Bee's spirit transforming into the demon, which then gouged out her eye. Enlisting the help of priests to bless the house, they locked the doll in Bee's closet. Esther and Samuel opened their house as a shelter to repent for their actions, but Esther now regrets it since this has provided an opportunity for the demon to look for a human host.


title: Annabelle: Creation

text: The demon murders Esther and attacks Sister Charlotte. The orphans leave the house, but Linda is trapped and hides in Bee's room as the possessed Janice tries to stab her. Sister Charlotte locks Janice and the doll inside the closet. The next day, police arrive to search the house and find only the doll, which they remove as evidence. Sister Charlotte, Linda, and the orphans are escorted away by officers, while Janice escapes through a hole in the closet wall and relocates to an orphanage in Santa Monica. Still possessed, she becomes reclusive and calls herself Annabelle. Pete and Sharon Higgins soon adopt Annabelle.


title: Annabelle: Creation

text: Twelve years later, after being involved in devil worship, a grown-up Annabelle returns home and murders her adoptive parents, awakening Mia Form, who warns John about Sharon Higgins's screams.


title: Annabelle: Creation

text: Additionally, Annabelle Wallis and Ward Horton appear in archive footage from "Annabelle" as Mia and John Form, respectively, and Bonnie Aarons reprises her role from "The Conjuring 2" as the demon nun Valak in an uncredited appearance.


title: Annabelle: Creation

text: In October 2015, it was confirmed that an "Annabelle" sequel was in development. David F. Sandberg replaced "Annabelle"s John R. Leonetti as the sequel's director in March 2016. He has described himself as a fan of the franchise, especially the first one, since they were "more of a classic, old-school horror movie in many ways." James Wan and New Line Cinema approached Sandberg to helm the sequel during the post-production on "Lights Out", after they were impressed by the early cuts of the film. Sandberg and Wan had met each other during production of "Lights Out", as the movie was produced by Wan's Atomic Monster Productions. Sandberg did not want to direct another formulaic horror sequel, but after reading the script and realising how it deviated from the first film, he agreed to direct it. He was attracted to it as it was a standalone film, as a result of which he had more creative freedom. The fact that it was a period piece made it more appealing to him. The first film's screenwriter, Gary Dauberman, returned to write the script, with Peter Safran and James Wan returning to produce. In March 2017, Sandberg revealed the film would be a prequel to the original "Annabelle" film, and titled "Annabelle: Creation".


title: Annabelle: Creation

text: Sandberg drew references from the look of the 1963 psychological horror film "The Haunting", due to its use of CinemaScope cinematography, and cited the score of "The Shining" to be the biggest inspiration for the film's chilling music. He also borrowed inspiration from the "old school" feel of "The Conjuring". He decided he would rely upon tension and suspense, as opposed to jump scares. Unlike his debut film "Lights Out", in which he meticulously crafted each scene beforehand, Sandberg had a different approach to "Annabelle: Creation". With "Annabelle" he "was inspired by the set and moment" and so did not prepare with extensive storyboards or diagrams, instead relying on the mantra, "We'll figure it out on set together. We'll make it work."


title: Annabelle: Creation

text: Sandberg softened some of Annabelle's features to make her more believable as a child's toy, having the cheeks filled-out and fixing her overbite. He found shooting with the doll challenging since the object was immobile, and he needed to use other objects—such as a sheet—to make her move around. Father Robert was a consultant on the film.


title: Annabelle: Creation

text: In June 2016, Talitha Bateman, Miranda Otto, and Stephanie Sigman were cast to star in the film. Bateman and fellow child actresses Lulu Wilson and Samara Lee had all seen "The Exorcist", and Samara was named after Samara Morgan from "The Ring", so despite working on a horror movie, none of the young actresses were disturbed by the film's subject, although some of them did state that they were unsettled by the doll. They said that they did not feel tension or fear throughout production, and Sandberg remarked that the only challenge in working with them was restrictions in terms of hours on the set—such as they cannot work after midnight and work overtime—since they were under age. Bateman was one of the actresses that James Wan had considered for the role of Janet in "The Conjuring 2". However, the part eventually went to Madison Wolfe. Since the script demanded a group of children, they brought Bateman in to audition, having been impressed by her screen tests previously. Her brother, Gabriel Bateman, starred in Sandberg's "Lights Out". Wilson auditioned for the role of Linda because she wanted to play a horror protagonist, having played an antagonist in "". "Creation" marks her third time starring in a horror film, following "Deliver Us from Evil" and "Ouija".


title: Annabelle: Creation

text: Anthony LaPaglia agreed to star in the film after his 14-year-old daughter overheard him talking on the phone about the movie, and responded enthusiastically to her father taking the role. He has described his character as "a mysterious, quiet-yet-gruff man who is mourning both the loss of his daughter and the medical degeneration of his wife. The young orphans who move into the now-dilapidated house fear him." To get into character, he did not mingle with the young actresses very much on set. He would intentionally distance himself from them so that during filming they would naturally not like him very much.


title: Annabelle: Creation

text: Principal photography began on June 27, 2016, in Los Angeles, California, at the Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank lot, and concluded on August 15, 2016. The film received California film and television tax credits in the amount of $2.4million after spending $17.4million in the state. Sandberg decided to use Steadicam and tracking shots, because of the film's period setting, and he wanted to maintain the "old school" feel of the first two "The Conjuring" films. According to Sandberg, he does not believe in ghosts or demonic entities, saying, "I haven't experienced anything in life that would lead me to believe they exist". Sandberg reported that actress Stephanie Sigman, who played Sister Charlotte, was "a little bit freaked out by that doll" and, after hearing that a priest had blessed the set of "The Conjuring 2", requested the same ritual be performed for this film.


title: Annabelle: Creation

text: In July 2017, Warner Bros. Pictures, in conjunction with James Wan, announced the "My Annabelle Creation" competition as promotion for the then-upcoming film "Annabelle: Creation". Participants of the competition were to shoot a short film which would "feel like (it) could exist within the established "Conjuring" world", with the winning films' directors winning a trip to Los Angeles to meet with David F. Sandberg, the director of "Annabelle: Creation", and a New Line Cinema's executive. The entry deadline was July 27, 2017, with five separate competition winners being selected from the United States, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Sweden and Colombia.


title: Annabelle: Creation

text: The winner from the United States competition was Julian Terry for his short film "The Nurse". Just under 2 minutes in length and filmed over four days, the film revolves around a bandaged and temporarily blind girl named Emily (Aria Walters) who attempts to elude the eponymous Demon Nurse (Hannah Palazzi).


title: Annabelle: Creation

text: The winner from the United Kingdom competition was Liam Banks for his short film "The Confession". Just over 2 minutes in length and filmed over one week, the film revolves around a psychologically-damaged young woman (Esmee Matthews), who after witnessing the deaths of her friends (Charlie Clarke and Jess Messenger), confides in a priest (Earnest Vernon) regarding her terrifying encounters with supernatural entities, only to realize she never escaped.


title: Annabelle: Creation

text: The winner from the Mexico competition was Raùl Bribiesca for his short film "What's Wrong With Mom?". Exactly 2 minutes in length and filmed in a single take, the film revolves around a father (Fabián Hurtado) and daughter (Carina Pámenes) as they're praying to God to exorcise the mother (Perla Corona) of the "Marifer", a teleporting demon possessing her.


title: Annabelle: Creation

text: The winner from the Sweden competition was Amanda Nilsson and Magda Lindblom for their short film "Blund's Lullaby". Just over 2 minutes in length, the film was inspired by the nordic version of the Sandman, known as John Blund.


title: Annabelle: Creation

text: The winner from the Colombia competition was Alejandro López for his short film (Spanish: "Almas Inocentes").


title: Annabelle: Creation

text: On November 23, 2016, Benjamin Wallfisch was hired to compose the music for the film. WaterTower Music released the soundtrack album on August 4, 2017.


title: Annabelle: Creation

text: The film was originally set for release on May 19, 2017, but was pushed back to August 11, 2017, to avoid competition with "". The film premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival on June 19, 2017.


title: Annabelle: Creation

text: The film was released on Digital HD on October 17, 2017, and on Blu-ray and DVD on October 24, 2017. It was included in a May 2022 Blu-ray collection along with other "The Conjuring" Universe movies.


title: Annabelle: Creation

text: "Annabelle: Creation" grossed $102.1million in the United States and Canada and $204.4million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $306.5million, against a production budget of $15million. With its release, it pushed "The Conjuring" franchise past the $1billion threshold, making it only the third horror series to cross that mark, after the "Alien" franchise and "Resident Evil" series. "Deadline Hollywood" calculated the film made a net profit of $108.7million, when factoring together all expenses and revenues.


title: Annabelle: Creation

text: In North America, the film was released alongside "" and "The Glass Castle", and was projected to gross around $30million from 3,502 theaters in its opening weekend. The film grossed $4million from its Thursday night previews, the highest of "The Conjuring" series and double the original "Annabelle"s $2.1million. It went on to open to $35million. In its second weekend, the film dropped 55.7% to earn another $15.5million, which was a smaller second-weekend drop than "Annabelle" (57%) and "The Conjuring 2" (63%), and the best second-weekend hold of the franchise since the initial "Conjuring" film (46%).


title: Annabelle: Creation

text: Outside North America, the film was released to positive reception from international audiences, which is reflected in its box office performance. It broke several opening records for the horror genre as well as for the studio and came in ahead of "The Conjuring" and "Annabelle" in many markets. The week prior to its domestic release, the film debuted in Italy at number one, with $1.1million. It earned $35.4million on its opening weekend from 39 markets, almost on par with its domestic debut and marking the second-biggest international opening in the franchise, behind only "The Conjuring 2". Overall, the film was number two at the international box office after "Wolf Warrior 2". The film expanded to 56 markets in its sophomore weekend, adding a handful of major markets and thereby topping the worldwide chart for the first time with an estimated $42million.