They say nothing is free in life, but Fox and AMC Theatres are here to prove you wrong. The two have teamed up to offer free Hidden Figures screenings in 14 cities in honor of Black History Month, Variety reports. The screenings will be held on February 18.
The combination of movie and month is, not surprisingly, perfect. Hidden Figures is based on the true story of three African-American women working at NASA as mathematicians in the 1960s. At the height of the Space Race, the trio played a key role in multiple missions, including Project Mercury, the program that made John Glenn the first American to orbit the Earth.
The groundbreaking mathematicians, Dorothy Vaughan, Katherine Johnson, and Mary Jackson, are played by Octavia Spencer, Taraji P. Henson, and Janelle Monae, respectively. With her portrayal of Dorothy, Spencer earned herself an Oscar nod for best supporting actress. The Ted Melfi-directed film also stars Mahershala Ali, Kirsten Dunst, and Kevin Kostner.
Hidden Figures has been a box office surprise since it opened on December 25, outperforming its forecasts and reaching more than $144.75 million in ticket sales at the time of this writing. The film’s success hasn’t just been commercial, either. It has also received critical acclaim and is nominated for three Academy Awards, including best picture.
“The storytelling and message that Hidden Figures carries is endearing and inspiring, and based on the remarkable community support this movie has received,” AMC’s Elizabeth Frank said, according to Variey. “We have witnessed firsthand the powerful impact it is having on audiences.”
So far, free screenings are scheduled in Atlanta, Baltimore, the Bronx, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Oakland, St. Louis, Miami, and Washington, D.C. However, Fox and AMC Theatres are also inviting school and community groups as well as nonprofits to apply to hold special screenings. Tickets can be reserved in advance here so you don’t miss out.
Some of the best shots in Grok Imagine’s AI-made Odyssey don’t contain actors. Ancient landscapes stretch into the distance. Close-ups of grimy hands suggest people who have touched something rougher than a keyboard. For a few seconds, the illusion holds.
https://twitter.com/imagine/status/2113712964419063911
YouTube videos could soon look better without eating quite so much data, right? Thankfully, the platform plans to introduce a new video format called AV2 on its web player in early 2027, promising more efficient streaming and potentially fewer playback hiccups on slower internet connections. The big headline is a roughly 30% improvement in compression efficiency over AV1, YouTube's existing video format. That doesn't guarantee every video will use 30% less data, but it could make streaming a little easier on both internet connections and data allowances.
What is AV2, and why should viewers care?
YouTube is changing how its Home page works, giving viewers more control over what shows up there and making some of the app’s most-used sections easier to reach. Custom Feeds are now replacing the existing topic chips for eligible users, while YouTube is also testing a redesigned top bar on mobile that moves Subscriptions closer to the Home feed.
YouTube first started experimenting with Custom Feeds earlier this year, letting you type out what you wanted to watch and turning that request into its own stream of recommendations. Now, the feature is starting to look less like a side experiment and more like something YouTube actually wants people to use as part of their everyday Home page.