• Peter Jackson, best known for "The Lord of the Rings" film series, has produced and directed a World War I documentary, "They Shall Not Grow Old."
• The project involved taking old war footage and painstakingly bringing it to the modern day with color and sound.
• It's an emotional ride filled with horror and despair, but also humility and even humor.

While there is plenty of video footage captured of World War II, represented in a whole slew of documentaries and TV shows, you won't find much to watch on the world war that happened a mere two decades prior — World War I.

Peter Jackson, the director we all know most famously from "The Lord of the Rings" movie series, realized the void in telling the story of World War I and brought it back to the surface with "They Shall Not Grow Old."

Read more: Only 9 movies received a perfect score on Rotten Tomatoes this year — here they are

The documentary, produced and directed by Jackson, worked with about 100 hours of film archived by Britain's Imperial War Museums, along with 600 hours of audio from interviews conducted with veterans of the war, and whittled them down to a fascinating telling of what it was like to be a British soldier fighting on the Western Front. A daunting task in itself, that isn't even the most impressive part. The majority of this doc is presented in glorious color and 24 frames per second. On top of that, sound effects were recorded for an even more immersive experience, since recordings were silent in the times of the war.

Before we go any further, watch the trailer here:

At some point at the beginning of the film, the standard "old-timey" footage goes from that jittery, black and white that we associate with old war footage, and transforms before your eyes in a true "Wizard of Oz" moment. (I think I audibly gasped "Wow!" when I watched it in the theater.)

The result of being able to sharpen, clean up, stabilize, color, and bring the footage to 24 frames per second (a standard for lots of filming nowadays — which gives that cinematic and more realistic speed to movement) suddenly humanizes World War I. This alone, aside from the incredible storytelling we receive from the interview audio and added sound effects, reminds us that these soldiers were just like you and me, for the fact that we see them in full color and at a more natural-looking speed. Cameras at the time were hand-cranked, which is why you often see people walking in old footage at unnatural, varying speeds.

Read more: The 18 best movies of 2018 that you absolutely need to see

If you get the chance to see "They Shall Not Grow Old" in theaters, do it. There are limited screenings in the US. If you stay after the credits, you can watch Peter Jackson show his audience a fascinating breakdown of some of the behind-the-scenes of the restoration process.

With the most dramatic transformation being from black and white to color, Stereo D, a company that focuses on turning 2D movies into 3D, was brought in to help with the restoring and coloring process, using a process called rotoscoping amongst other software. Peter Jackson, who dedicated the project to his grandfather, a veteran of the war, came to the rescue with his impressive World War I collection. This included actual uniforms that were referenced for the accurate coloring of the uniforms in the doc.

He also had a collection of World War I weapons ("as one does," Jackson quipped in the behind-the-scenes portion). This allowed for accurate sound to be recorded, such as the firing of mortars. Whenever soldiers were seen talking in the footage, actors were hired to read what was best-guessed as to what was said, with the help of professional lip readers.

Jackson also mentioned in the post-credit section that he didn't want this to be a typical history lesson of the war, but simply a telling from the soldiers' perspectives. This lead to the decision not to narrate the film themselves, but to use the audio recordings from the interviews with veterans to drive the storytelling. What culminates is an emotional ride filled with horror and despair, but also humility and even humor. It's worth a watch, and I hope it sparks more film projects to shed a light of a war less told.

Watch some more behind the scenes here:

Visit INSIDER's homepage for more.

SEE ALSO: RANKED: The 16 most disappointing movies of the year

FOLLOW US: INSIDER Entertainment is on Facebook

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: The true story behind the name 'Black Friday' is much darker than you may have thought

• The ballerinas of Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo are not your average ballet dancers.
• The all-male comedy ballet company features dancers in drag performing classical ballet pieces like Swan Lake and Les Sylphides.
• Dancers Robert Carter, Alberto Pretto, and Haojun Xie give us an inside look at the company and their journeys to become "Trocks."

Tory Dobrin: Hundreds of thousands of people have seen us.

Robert: I'm Robert Carter.

Haojun: My name is Haojun Xie.

Alberto: Hi, my name is Alberto Pretto and I'm a dancer with Le Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo.

Tory: The Ballet Trockadero is actually an all-male comedy ballet company. So we take classical ballets and also modern styles and we are trying to parody these styles and we do it for comedic effect. Alberto: In Trockadero we have to obviously perform en pointe and perform in tutus, and makeup, and hair in a bun so we look like ballerinas, drag ballerinas.

Tory: The company was started in 1974 and in that period, in New York City particularly, right after the Stonewall riots there was a lot of drag elements in the city in a lot of clubs and a lot of bars, people were experimenting with drag. So the company really came out of that period and it was a bunch of guys who wanted to put on a show. So, they started doing these midnight shows parodying classical ballet and it really took off. Who knew that 44 years later we were still going to be in existence. Alberto: I always knew about Le Ballets Trockadero because of videos that I'd been watching and always had in the back of my mind the idea of auditioning.

Haojun: When I saw Trock videos online for the first time and I said, like wow, like amazing like dance company. And they're so talented. And I said, "Yeah, one day I want like to join this company." Like now, like my dream have like come true. It's like perfect, I love it. I love dance like a with Trock. I very enjoy. And then all the dancers are so nice. And the other dancers are very like, can be — make me like feel like home. Yeah.

Alberto: It's special for men to go en pointe because ballet is very traditional. Boys don't get to do en pointe. They just are — the prince is on flat and is there to support the girl who is the prima ballerina. She gets to go on the toes.

Elena Kunikova: You know, gravity is the same of all of us, men, women. First of all, one has to be well-balanced and stable because if one is falling he cannot do anything. So, we worked on everything that needed to be worked on. Technique, strength, style, expressiveness, you know, my list is very long, I can go on. And I've been working with them for I believe almost 25 years.

Alberto: I was just fed up with being in the back and lifting girls and doing choreography — neoclassical that I really didn't enjoy that much.

Robert: I love dancing, period. So, you know, the steps in ballet are all the same, it's just how they're implemented for men and women. I enjoy the challenge of doing the female choreography. It's en pointe because I have the power and the physicality of a man but I can still play with the delicacy that a woman has.

Haojun: I started dancing like at 11 years old. This is my first season dancing with Trock.

Robert: I began training in ballet at seven and a half. I am the only one in my family that dances ballet.

Alberto: I have been dancing with the company for seven years. In my life, I think about 16 years. I was the only boy, yes. It's very rare to find boys in ballet classes, especially where I come from, from Italy.

Haojun: And then I graduated like a Beijing Dance Academy. Then I got like a scholarship with University of Cincinnati and then after I got like another scholarship from Joffrey Ballet School.

Robert: Coming from the south, it's typical there aren't a lot of boys. It was still somewhat frowned upon, especially even my own father didn't care for it so much. My father was raised, you know, in that traditional blue-collar kind of vein. His idea of work was you had to get your hands dirty. With dance, I enjoyed it so much. And so for him, it's like, "Yeah, yeah, that's all good and dandy, but when are you gonna find a real job?" I remember it got so bad that at one point my mother threatened to take my sisters and myself and leave him.

Alberto: I was getting a lot of bullying from other guys at school but I didn't really mind it so much because I was never part of their group, I was always hanging out with some girl friends at ballet school so I kinda had my little niche protected.

Robert: When I began training ballet immediately I was fascinated with pointe shoes. I would beg the girls when they would come to the ending of the life of their pointe shoes, I like begged them, you know, give me. So I stashed a couple of old, used pointe shoes and would just play out in an empty studio. My dance teacher caught me and instead of getting in trouble, you know he said, "Well then get your butt into pointe class."

Haojun: For me, I want to challenge myself like en pointe, I say "Why not." Yeah

Alberto: So when I was younger obviously I always wanted to dance en pointe and dance as a ballerina but it wasn't allowed. You know, I still learned the female variations on the side and I remember like hiding to put the pointe shoes on alone in the studio when no one was there.

Robert: I'm a spiritual person and everything happens for a reason. I got the opportunity to see the company, I was about maybe 11 or 12. Immediately I said, well that's it, one day I have to be with that company.

Alberto: We rehearse five days a week, eight hours a day. That's normally our schedule before we head out on the road.

Robert: The most challenging part is the traveling. Not even the performing. It's a lot to live out of a suitcase the majority of the time of the year.

Haojun: For me, I have like wide feet and then some pointe shoes are very like narrow, and when I — first time I tried the pointe shoes it's like, it's so narrow I can't push like my feet in the pointe shoes, it hurts. Like I feel the girl, the feet, always like narrower than boys. And then after I found the softer pointe shoes it's like good for me pointe shoes and I feel like, wow, this is good for me in the en pointe.

Alberto: It's just no matter what, it hurts. It's like wearing heels, it always hurts. They look beautiful, but they're gonna hurt at the end of the night.

Haojun: I don't wanna spend my time go to like a finding like a second job because I really like enjoy my work, my company, yeah, dance with Trock.

Alberto: I'm also a drag queen, so I perform at clubs when I get the gigs. It's really hard to get the gigs, but once I get one that's what I do. And I also have a brand of dancewear that I sew myself and that keeps me busy and keeps me going.

Robert: Every day I think to myself how fortunate I am that over the course of this long time that I have had with the company I have never worried about where my next paycheck was coming from.

Alberto: The part I love most about performing with the Trocks is, well the fact that I get to dance female roles en pointe, I always found them fascinating, much more than just the male roles. And also I love the makeup process. I love getting ready and doing the whole makeup and wearing a costume. You have to give the illusion.

Robert: A lot of what I do, as far as my makeup style at least, it's all for my own vanity. Even if the audience doesn't see it, it helps me.

Haojun: When I saw myself like, "Wow, is that me?" It's surprise, yeah, because I never to do a lot of makeup. Yeah, we used to do kind of like a draw makeup. All the like dancer will help me to do the makeup and teach me how I can to do the makeup, how I can make me beautiful.

Tory: The Trocks have actually performed in 600 cities all over the world. The company performs in New York every two years. We go to the Joyce Theater. We're usually there for three weeks around Christmastime. Of course, performing in New York City is important 'cause this is our home.

Alberto: The audience is so warm and always laughs and claps a lot. I used to dance in regular companies where you get an applause at the end of the show and that's pretty much it. But people break into during the show and they laugh and I love the comical part of the show too. My family is really supportive. You know, they had no idea what I was gonna get myself into at first. But they came and watched a lot of performances of the Trocks. They love it, they find it really funny.

Robert: My mom has been and always will be my number one fan. First time they saw me, well — that's pretty funny. The first time they actually saw me, my father, I sent a picture of myself to my mother when people still used to write letters and so on and I had enclosed a picture of me in costume. And so she put it on her dresser and my father saw it and it was so funny because he actually thought it was my younger sister. The one good thing about society is that people are a lot more broad-minded nowadays and so it's kind of like the old you can't wear white shoes after Labor Day rule, it's kind of been done away with, well so has this whole notion that dancers have to retire at 40. There are many dancers in 40-plus that are still going very strong and I'm one of them.

Haojun: Oh yeah, my friends know I'm in the Trock right now. They're like, "Wow, are you in the Trock? I'm so happy for you." I think, "Yeah, I'm happy too." Yeah, they're jealous, they said like, "Wow, oh my God, that's like so good, amazing." I say, "Yeah, thank you."

Emma: Have they ever seen you dress as a woman?

Haojun: No, never. I would like make surprise to them.

Emma: How do you think they'll react?

Haojun: I don't know. Just like, just show them. Just like, "Hi, Mom, surprise," like this, with tutu and makeup. Yeah.

Join the conversation about this story »

• The Nasdaq warned MoviePass's parent company that it would move to delist its stock as soon as December 28.
• Shares of Helios and Matheson have traded below $1 a share for nearly the entire time since May, violating Nasdaq's listing standards.
• The company had until Tuesday to boost its stock price above that threshold, but failed, and the Nasdaq doesn't think it will be able to ever do it.
• Helios and Matheson plans to appeal the decision, which would delay and possibly avert the delisting.

The parent company of MoviePass may soon no longer have its shares trading on the Nasdaq market.

The Nasdaq warned Helios and Matheson on Wednesday that it plans to suspend trading in the company's shares on December 28 and will move to have them delisted, Helios and Matheson disclosed Friday in a document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company plans to delay and potentially head off the delisting by appealing the exchange's decision.

But the company's chances of winning an appeal could be slim. The Nasdaq already decided that it won't give Helios and Matheson a 180-day extension to get its stock back above $1 a share, the standard which it has failed to meet since May of this year. 

Helios and Matheson "received a written notice from [Nasdaq's] staff that the company has not regained compliance with [Nasdaq's listing standards] and is not eligible for a second 180-day period because the staff determined that it does not appear that it is possible for the company to cure the deficiency," the company said in its regulatory filing.

The MoviePass owner indicated in the document that it still believes it can boost its stock above $1 a share and regain compliance. It said it would appeal the decision and ask for a delay so that it can reverse split its stock a second time. It also said it would "continue considering all available options to resolve the company’s noncompliance" with the listing standard.

Read this: MoviePass' parent company just bought itself more time to live, but it's still in imminent danger of being kicked off the stock exchanges

Helios and Matheson's stock has been stuck below $1 a share

Nasdaq's rules require it to put the delisting process on hold when a company appeals the delisting decision. Appeals are typically held within 45 days of their filing, according to the document. Should Helios and Matheson not actually appeal the delisting decision or lose its appeal, its shares would likely end up on the over-the-counter markets where they would be more difficult to trade and would likely decline even further than they already have. The company's stock has lost more than 99% of its value this year as its burned through more than $300 million in cash and sold off billions of shares to stay in business.

In June, after Helios and Matheson's stock had been below $1 a share for more than a month, the Nasdaq sent the company a letter warning that it was not in compliance with the market's listing standards. Nasdaq gave Helios and Matheson 180 days to boost its share price and solve the problem.

After getting approval from shareholders, it reverse split its stock by a 250-to-1 ratio in July, temporarily boosting its stock price above $20 a share. But the shares quickly plummeted below $1 a share again as the company issued and sold massive quantities of new shares to fund its ongoing losses. 

Helios and Matheson proposed reverse splitting its stock again this fall, but it ended up abandoning the effort in the face of widespread investor opposition. 

The Nasdaq cited that history in explaining why it wouldn't give Helios and Matheson a second 180-day period to get back in compliance with its listing standards, according to the regulatory document. 

• Read more about Helios and Matheson and MoviePass:
• After losing 99% of its value, MoviePass' parent company is getting ready to ask shareholders to support its CEO and approve his pay
• MoviePass' parent company is delaying a shareholder vote on its reverse-split plan — again
• The parent company of MoviePass just gave another indication that shareholders are balking at its plan to reverse split its stock
• MoviePass' parent company just freed up some room to sell more stock — after already increasing its share count by 80,000% since July

SEE ALSO: MoviePass' parent company has boosted its share count by an unbelievable 80,000% since July — but it's run out of room to issue new stock

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: We tested out $30 tiny spy cameras from Amazon by spying on our co-workers

• Discord is the world's largest chat platform for gaming, with more than 200 million users.
• The company is now valued at more than $2 billion after raising $150 million in a new round of funding. It was last valued at $1.65 billion as recently as this summer. 
• Recently, Discord's ambitions have expanded into selling games, as it gears up to take on the leading Steam PC gaming platform, as well as Epic Games — the new online storefront from the creators of "Fortnite." 
• In its time, Discord has also courted controversy: White supremacist groups reportedly used the platform in 2017 to plan the infamous "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville.

Discord, the most popular group chat program for video gamers, is now valued at $2.05 billion after raising $150 million in a new funding round, it announced on Friday. The round was led by Greenoaks Capital and also includes participation from Firstmark, Tencent, IVP, Index Ventures, and Technology Opportunity Partners.

Since its launch in 2015, Discord has drawn in more than 200 million users worldwide. The chat program offers a variety of impressive features for free, and lets users create and customize their own voice and text chat channels. It's become one of the premiere places for online communities to gather. The company was last valued at $1.65 billion in a funding round earlier this year. 

Having established a huge userbase, Discord launched a new online store within the chat platform earlier in October. The majority of the games offered in the store come from independent developers, and Discord recently announced that creators would earn 90% of the revenue generated from each sale. Those who subscribe to Discord's "Nitro" service pay $99/year or $9.99/month to gain unlimited access to more than $1,000 worth of games from the store, and gain additional chat features.

Notably, this new store places into competition with some industry heavyweights: The Discord Store goes right up against Steam, far and away the largest PC digital games store, as well as the new Epic Games, from the creators of "Fortnite." In a bid to win developer support, Discord and Epic alike are offering developers more favorable terms than Steam, which usually takes a 30% cut of all sales. 

At the same time, Discord has courted controversy. The open and relatively anonymous nature of the platform has led white supremacists and other problematic groups to gather on Discord. It was reported that the white supremacist group behind the infamous Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017 used Discord to organize and plan.

Read more:A popular chat app just shut down a major online hangout for the alt-right after Charlottesville

Discord has tried to fight back against bad actors on the platform, banning known servers associated with white supremacy and hate speech, while also working to enforce terms of service that prohibit those behaviors. Still, those communities are said to still linger on the service.

Though the platform started as a niche app for gamers, Discord has secured a foothold as one of the most popular chat services in the world. As the platform continues to grow, the company will be challenged by a welcoming wider range of communities while working to stay true to its core userbase.

As for the future of Discord: It's been reported that the company has been exploring a sale, though it's unclear how raising this funding would affect its intentions in that regard. 

SEE ALSO: The world's biggest chat platform for gaming is taking aim at Steam, the world's biggest gaming storefront

SEE ALSO: A popular chat app just shut down a major online hangout for the alt-right after Charlottesville

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: These are the top 7 smartphones of 2018

• Director James Wan chose to make "Aquaman" because he thought it was the superhero "everyone makes fun of," so he'd get to make it under the radar.
• It backfired as "Justice League" bombing at the box office put more pressure on "Aquaman" to succeed. 
• Wan told Business Insider why making "Furious 7" helped prepare him for the pressures of making the DC Comics movie.

Director James Wan thought he had made the perfect choice when he was offered to do a superhero movie three years ago.

“They asked me which superhero I would be interested in, and I picked Aquaman because it’s the one everyone makes fun of, so there wouldn’t be a lot of pressure,” Wan told Business Insider. “I’ll go and make this movie under the radar — no one is going to care. Fast-forward, and there’s just this massive spotlight on it.”

What Wan didn’t foresee was that the DC Comics Extended Universe would suffer a major blow when last year’s release of “Justice League” became a major box-office and critical bomb. Suddenly, “Aquaman” was a pretty big deal for Warner Bros.

If Wan — the horror maestro behind “Saw” and “The Conjuring,” as well as title holder of the biggest box-office earner of the “Fast and Furious” franchise with “Furious 7” (over $1.5 billion worldwide) — and his lead Jason Momoa couldn’t make “Aquaman” a global hit, then what kind of future would the DCEU have outside of successful “Wonder Woman” movies?

Thankfully, “Aquaman” has become a box-office sensation, having already earned over $300 million overseas and becoming the highest-grossing Warner Bros. movie ever in China. It finally hits theaters in North America on Friday.

Read more: Business Insider ranks the 11 best movies of 2018

Wan admits there’s always pressure one a big movie, but he said having made a big movie for a studio, “Furious 7,” prepared him for all the anxiety of making “Aquaman” under a magnifying glass.

“It trained me to understand what it means to do a movie like this, but also how to have a movie like this fun in a way that people will endear it as opposed to scoffing at it,” Wan said of making “Furious 7.”

And US audiences are starting to see that for themselves, as the movie took in $13.7 million in preview screenings before its Friday opening, which is slightly better than “Venom” and “Wonder Woman.” 

SEE ALSO: Some upset MoviePass subscribers say they have tried to cancel and the app didn't let them

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Bernie Madoff was arrested 10 years ago today — here's what his life is like in prison

• Netflix has given a big boost to some of the world's highest-paid comedians.
• The majority of the comedians on Forbes' annual list have worked with Netflix this year or last, from Jerry Seinfeld to Chris Rock. 

Netflix has focused on stand-up comedy the last few years, and will even debut 47 new stand-up specials on New Year's Day.

Many comedians have seen big paydays thanks to Netflix, and that's evident in Forbes' list of the year's highest-paid comedians in the world, which was released this week. 

The majority of the comedians on the list have starred in Netflix specials this year or last, such as Chris Rock, Jerry Seinfeld, Dave Chappelle.

Gabriel Iglesias released a Netflix special in 2016 called "I'm Sorry For What I Said When I Was Hungry," and will star in another sometime in 2019 called "One Show Fits All." Sebastian Maniscalco will also star in a special on Netflix that premieres January 15, called "Stay Hungry."

Forbes made the list based on estimated, pre-tax earnings from June 1, 2017 to June 1, 2018. Below are the top 10, with those who starred in Netflix specials this year or last in bold:

10. Sebastian Maniscalco

9. Jeff Dunham

8. Jim Gaffigan

7. Terry Fator

6. Gabriel Iglesias

5. Ricky Gervais

4. Chris Rock

3. Dave Chappelle

2. Kevin Hart

1. Jerry Seinfeld

And below are the comedians on the list who worked on original content with Netflix this year or in 2017, including their earnings according to Forbes:

SEE ALSO: Stephen King was 'riveted' by Netflix's new thriller, 'Bird Box,' and slammed critics for suffering from 'Netflix Prejudice'

Jeff Dunham — $16.5 million

Dunham starred in Netflix special called "Relative Disaster" last year. 

Jim Gaffigan — $17.5 million

Netflix released Gaffigan's fifth special last year, called "Cinco." This year, he passed on Netflix to release a new special, "Noble Ape," to a variety of on-demand services because it would be  "available to everyone at the same time," he told Business Insider in August. "You didn't just have to have Netflix."

Ricky Gervais — $25 million

This year, Netflix released Gervais' first special in seven years, called "Humanity." Forbes estimates that he made $15 million for "Humanity."

• MoviePass's parent company, Helios and Matheson, is in danger of having its stock delisted by the Nasdaq within weeks. 
• The company has failed to meet a key listing standard — its shares have traded below $1 a share for most of the last seven months. 
• If Nasdaq delisted the stock, it would trade in the over-the-counter markets.
• That could lead the stock to fall even farther in value and could make it hard for investors and the company to sell shares.
• Helios and Matheson could delay the delisting by appealing it or getting a six-month extension to boost its stock.

As bad as this year has been for shareholders of Helios and Matheson, the parent company of MoviePass, things could soon get even worse.

The company's stock is in danger of being delisted by the Nasdaq national market, potentially as soon as December 28. If and when that happens, its stock could plunge even farther than it already has, and shareholders could have a tough time selling their shares.

Worse, the company could find it difficult to raise new funds by selling additional shares — the chief way it's kept itself in business this year amid mounting losses. 

"The delisting itself is clearly bad news," said James Angel, an associate professor of finance at Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business. 

Representatives of Helios and Matheson did not respond to an email seeking comment about the potential delisting.

Helios and Matheson has been trading below $1 a share

Helios and Matheson shareholders have already absorbed a bunch of bad news this year. MoviePass' $10-a-month subscription service, which initially excited investors and boosted the company's stock, proved to be a boondoggle. In just the first nine months of this year, Helios and Matheson has burned through $321 million in cash from its operations alone, almost entirely due to MoviePass. It's kept afloat by issuing and selling billions of new shares to the public, in the process massively diluting its investor base— and sinking its stock price. 

The Nasdaq requires that all listed companies and their stocks meet certain requirements, among them that they trade over $1 a share. Thanks to Helios and Matheson's massive stock sales, its shares fell below that threshold in May and, with a brief respite after a reverse split in July, have stayed below it since. The company repeatedly warned investors that Nasdaq had given it until this past Tuesday to get back into compliance. 

On Wednesday, according to a document Helios and Matheson filed Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Nasdaq warned the company it would suspend trading in its stock on December 28 and would move to delist it. Helios and Matheson said it would appeal the decision, which would put the delisting process on hold until the Nasdaq hears its appeal, and could potentially avert the stock's removal if the company wins. 

But its prospects of prevailing in the appeal, which is slated to be held within 45 days of the company officially filing for one, look dubious. The Nasdaq already denied the company a second 180-day period to get its stock above $1 a share. The market's staff said they didn't think it was possible for Helios and Matheson to do that. 

Read this: MoviePass's parent company is in dire danger of having its stock delisted by the Nasdaq

That would leave the company's stock trading in the over-the-counter markets. Although investors could still buy and still shares, such a move could prove disastrous for the company.

"Very few companies come back from delisting," said Kevin Mak, director of the real-time analysis and investment lab at Stanford's Graduate School of Business. 

Its stock could take a further hit if it gets delisted

Companies that get delisted from major exchanges often see an immediate drop in their stock value, market experts said. With its stock trading lately at less than 2 cents a share, it might seem that Helios and Matheson has nowhere left to fall. But some stocks in the over-the-counter markets are trading for as little as 0.01 cents a share, Angel noted, so it could have plenty of room left to fall. 

Part of the reason why stocks that are delisted see an immediate share price decline is that many institutional investors aren't permitted to own stocks that aren't on the major exchanges, said Mak. If the Nasdaq does drop Helios and Matheson's stock, it could force mutual funds, pension funds and other big investors that still hold its shares to dump their investments, he said. 

"It's generally going to be something that's going to cause them to sell," he said. 

Another problem for companies whose stocks trade over the counter — and their investors — is that their shares can be harder to buy and sell. It's not just that many institutional investors can't trade such stocks, it's that many individual investors avoid over-the-counter markets as well. Because stocks that trade over-the-counter aren't subject to any exchange's listing requirements and have often ended up there because they don't meet those requirements, they're generally considered to be riskier investments.

Investors can still generally trade relatively small quantities of shares in the over-the-counter markets without too much trouble, the market experts said. But it can be much more difficult to buy and sell mass quantities, they said. 

"You're less likely to find a counterparty if you want to trade," said Christine Parlour, a finance professor at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. 

Helios and Matheson has depended on selling shares

Relatedly, the costs of trades made in the over-the-counter markets tend to be significantly higher than in the big national markets. The difference between the bid and ask prices for stocks listed on the big national markets tend to be a few pennies, or a small percentage of their share prices. The gap tends to be much bigger for over-the-counter stocks. 

What that means is that buyers tend to have to pay more for shares than they would otherwise, and sellers tend to have to sell them for considerably less. 

Such consequences of delisting could be particularly problematic for Helios and Matheson. The company had just $4.9 million in cash at the end of September, and burned through more than $100 million in cash in the third quarter despite trying numerous times to revamp its service to stanch its losses. 

Typically if companies to fail to meet a listing standard after the 180-day period the Nasdaq gives them to come back into compliance, the market will send them a letter warning them they the don't meet the standard. Companies generally have four days to disclose such letters to shareholders. 

The Nasdaq is able to offer companies a second 180-day period to get back into compliance with its listing standards. But it typically offers that extension only to companies that meet all of its other requirements except the one they've been notified about.

The company does have a strategy to avoid being delisted

In addition to having its stock fall below the $1 threshold, Helios and Matheson has failed since August to meet another key standard — having a board composed of a majority of independent directors and an audit committee composed of at least three independent directors.

However, the company has nominated attorney Joseph Fried to serve as a director. Should he be elected at the company's meeting later this month, he would bring Helios and Matheson back into compliance on those board requirements. 

The company has been planning to try to get back into compliance with the $1 a share listing requirement by reverse splitting its stock, in effect trading one new share for two to hundreds of older shares. But it cancelled a planned shareholder vote on a potential reverse-split plan last month in the face of widespread shareholder opposition.

Helios and Matheson already reverse-split its stock once this year, in July. The company's stock stayed above $1 a share for less than a week, though, falling dramatically as the company resumed issuing and selling massive numbers of new shares. 

In its regulatory document warning of the Nasdaq's delisting decision, Helios and Matheson said if the market gave it more time to get its stock above $1 a share, it would try again to get approval for a reverse split. It also said it would "continue considering all available options to resolve the company’s noncompliance" with the standard.

• Read more:
• MoviePass' parent company just bought itself more time to live, but it's still in imminent danger of being kicked off the stock exchanges
• MoviePass' parent company is delaying a shareholder vote on its reverse-split plan — again
• The parent company of MoviePass just gave another indication that shareholders are balking at its plan to reverse split its stock
• Investors seem to be balking at MoviePass' parents' plans to reverse split its stock again — and for good reason

SEE ALSO: MoviePass' parent company just freed up some room to sell more stock — after already increasing its share count by 80,000% since July

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: We tested out $30 tiny spy cameras from Amazon by spying on our co-workers

• 2019 is rapidly approaching, and there's a lot to look forward to in the coming year.
• Both Microsoft and Sony are expected to begin revealing the next versions of the Xbox and PlayStation consoles.
• Nintendo says the next major main series "Pokémon" game is arriving this year on the Nintendo Switch.
• Will this finally be the year that Apple, Google, and/or Amazon start competing with Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft? 

In 2019, the next versions of the Xbox and PlayStation are likely to be revealed — and one or both might even arrive in the next 12 months.

And that's just the beginning!

Next year, the first-ever Pokémon game for a home Nintendo console is scheduled to arrive, and Microsoft's Netflix-like streaming service for gaming — Project xCloud — is likely to light up. How about a new game based on Harry Potter made by the infamous studio that created "Pokémon Go"? That's also in the works!

Here's a rundown of everything we expect from the world of video games in 2019:

SEE ALSO: The next Xbox is expected to arrive in 2020 — here's what we know

1. New game consoles from Microsoft and Sony.

Indeed, it's that time once again: Both Microsoft and Sony are gearing up to announce new versions of the Xbox And PlayStation platforms.

In the case of the next Xbox, things are a bit more clear — Xbox chief Phil Spencer has outright announced Microsoft's ongoing work on new Xbox consoles. 

"The same team that delivered unprecedented performance with Xbox One X is deep into architecting the next Xbox consoles," Spencer said on stage in Los Angeles on June 10, "where we will once again deliver on our commitment to set the benchmark for console gaming."

The latest rumors point to multiple tiers of Xbox console, similar to the current line-up with the Xbox One S and Xbox One X consoles. Rumors also say the new Xbox will be compatible with all previous generations of Xbox; the codenames are reportedly "Lockhart" (for the less powerful/less expensive version) and "Anaconda" (for the higher-end version). 

Sony has also announced its ongoing work on a successor to its current game console, the PlayStation 4. Starting as early as May 2018, Sony executives have been discussing work on what many expect will be the "PlayStation 5." And with PlayStation skipped the game industry's annual June trade show, E3, for the first time ever, it's entirely possible that the company will hold its own event specifically to announce the next PlayStation. 

That said, we know little about what the console will be. We do know that it might not arrive until 2021. "We will use the next three years to prepare the next step," PlayStation head John Kodera said in May.

2. A huge new Pokémon game for the Nintendo Switch.

Pokémon is coming to the Nintendo Switch — prepare yourself!

Nintendo says a "core RPG Pokémon title" is coming to the Nintendo Switch. Not a spin-off, like "Pokémon Stadium" and "Pokémon Snap" way back on the Nintendo 64, but a full-on main series entry.

The beloved Pokémon series of games has always been a portable affair. With few exceptions, the only way to engage with the long-running series was on Nintendo's handheld consoles. But with this new entry, that's about to change.

Nintendo says the next main entry in the long-running Pokémon game franchise — the successor to "Pokémon Ultra Sun" and "Pokémon Ultra Moon" — will arrive in "late 2019." For now, that's all that we know.

3. The continued crumbling of barriers between game platforms.

Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's PlayStation 4 are competitors, and each runs its own paid online service. Those services don't work with each other, and thus you're unable to play games across the two competing platforms.

But things began changing earlier this year, and it's all because of "Fortnite."

"Fortnite" is one of very few games that you can play with friends across every platform it's on — and that's a lot of platforms.

Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, PC, Mac, iPhone, and Android all run "Fortnite," and all seven versions of the game work together. Players on iPhone can play with players on Xbox One and Nintendo Switch and every other combination of those platforms that you can imagine.

And now, "Fortnite" maker Epic Games is releasing the tools it uses to make its game work across all those platforms. Better yet: It's making those tools completely free to any game developer who wants to use them.

It's a huge move with massive implications for the larger game industry. The most important impact is clear: The end of siloed off gaming platforms. In some utopian vision of the future, it's not so hard to imagine a world where owning one copy of a game means you own it on every gaming platform! 

• "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate" is out now for the Nintendo Switch, and players are already starting to get competitive – less than two weeks since release. 
• The world's number one ranked "Super Smash Bros." player, Gonzalo "ZeRo" Barrios, has ranked all 74 characters in the game based on his early impressions.
• The best 11 characters are regarded as "top tier" by the competitive community, meaning they have moves and abilities that make them stand out against the rest of the cast.
• While tier lists like Zero's may reflect players' opinions on the strongest characters, it will always be possible for the worst characters to win if they employ the right strategy.

Like most fighting games, "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate" can inspire a competitive drive in even the most casual of video game players.

The Super Smash Bros. franchise has a long and storied history of grassroots tournaments and esports events dedicated to findind the best players around the world, and the games evolve constantly as players develop new strategies and techniques.

Gonzalo "ZeRo" Barrios was named the best overall player over the four-year life span of "Super Smash Bros. for Wii U" by Panda Global, a leading organization within the Smash esports community. After taking a break from competition for most of 2018, ZeRo has been working hard to reclaim his mantle in "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate," helping out other players along the way with video guides and early impressions of the game.

Earlier this week ZeRo released his first tier list for the game, ranking all 74 characters from best to worst.

"Super Smash Bros. Ultimate" is still just a few weeks old so the overall ranks will shift over time, but ZeRo has seperated the characters into four primary tiers; Top tier characters are considered the best; high-tier characters are strong with some flaws; mid-tier characters are solid but may lack strong tools, and low-tier characters struggle to stay competitive.

It's important to note that just because a character is high tier they wont always win; matchups between specific characters will sway based on the strategy of the players and the way their moves interact. A better player using a low- or mid-tier charater will be able to overcome a weaker player using a "better" character, if they stay sharp and make best use of their skills. 

However, understanding why top tier characters are considered the best is one of the most important steps towards building a sound strategy and learning how to win. If you're curious as to where the rest of the characters land on the tier list, be sure to watch ZeRo's full video and hear the explanations for yourself.

Here are the 11 top tier characters in "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate," according to the world's number one Smash player, ZeRo.

SEE ALSO: These 7 'Super Smash Bros. Ultimate' tips will help you dominate your friends like a pro

SEE ALSO: 'Super Smash Bros. Ultimate' brings more than 70 characters to the Nintendo Switch — here they all are

Inkling

The Inkling joins "Super Smash Bros." series from one of Nintendo's newest franchises, Splatoon. Despite being a totally fresh character in "Ultimate," Zero and other top players consider Inkling to be the best overall.

Inkling can slow enemies and deal additional damage by coating them with ink, a unique mechanic inspired by "Splatoon." With multiple moves that can cover the opponent in ink, a strong Inkling player can maintain an advantage thoughout the match.

Even without the ink giving an extra edge, the Inkling has strong basic attacks, and can use their Ink Roller special to guarantee kills on weakened enemies.

Pikachu

As the mascot of Pokémon, Pikachu is one of the original "Super Smash Bros." characters, and has had one of the most balanced designs throughout the series. Pikachu has tons of mobility, a great move for returning to the stage, and a solid pair of ranged attacks to force enemies to react from a distance.

ZeRo claims that Pikachu has some of the best moves for guarding the edge of the stage, including multiple moves to spike players as they recover from a big hit. With quick normal attacks and tools for just about every situation, Pikachu is a strong all-around character.

Olimar

Hailing from Nintendo's "Pikmin" series, Olimar is an astronaut with a team of colorful alien creatures, the titular Pikmin, as his allies. Olimar's greatest strength is throwing Pikmin at his enemies to maintain a good distance. 

Differently-colored Pikmin have different effects on an opponent: Some do heavy damage, while others may poison or temporarily stun an opponent. Olimar's other moves are fairly safe too, allowing him to slowly wear away at the patience and health of other player while staying out of range of their reprisals. 

• Every week, Parrot Analytics provides Business Insider the most in-demand TV shows on streaming services.
• This week includes DC Universe's "Titans" and Netflix's "Voltron: Legendary Defender."

DC Universe's "Titans" has surged since last week in the aftermath of its first season finale, and Netflix's animated "Voltron: Legendary Defender" has debuted on the list thanks to the recent premiere of its eighth season. 

Every week, Parrot Analytics provides Business Insider with a list of the seven most "in-demand" TV shows on streaming services. The data is based on "demand expressions," the globally standardized TV demand measurement unit from Parrot Analytics. Audience demand reflects the desire, engagement, and viewership weighted by importance, so a stream or download is a higher expression of demand than a "like" or comment on social media.

Other streaming shows this week include Netflix's "Narcos: Mexico" and "Chilling Adventures of Sabrina," which was just renewed for seasons three and four.

SEE ALSO: Stephen King was 'riveted' by Netflix's new thriller, 'Bird Box,' and slammed critics for suffering from 'Netflix Prejudice'

7. "Voltron: Legendary Defender" (Netflix)

Average demand expressions: 25,903,568 

Description: "In an all-new series, five unlikely heroes and their flying robot lions unite to form the megapowerfulVoltron and defend the universe from evil."

Rotten Tomatoes critic score (Season 8): N/A

What critic said: "There's no love or warmth here, and it feels like the series retroactively tried to pony up a relationship in apology for the Shiro drama. But it's another debacle that feels fake, forced and patronizing." — Renaldo Matadeen, CBR

Season 8 premiered on Netflix December 14. 

6. "Marvel's Daredevil" (Netflix)

Average demand expressions: 26,877,370

Description: "Blinded as a young boy, Matt Murdock fights injustice by day as a lawyer and by night as the Super Hero Daredevil in Hell's Kitchen, New York City."

Rotten Tomatoes critic score (Season 3): 96%

What critics said: "When D'Onofrio is allowed to be Fisk, to really embody the cruelty and spirit of the villain, he taps into a strain of excited fear, like the tingle you feel after lightning flashes but thunder hasn't yet struck." — Alex Abad-Santos, Vox

Season 3 premiered on Netflix October 19. The show was recently canceled.

5. "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" (Amazon)

Average demand expressions: 29,578,746 

Description: "After Midge's triumph at the Gaslight, the fallout from her takedown of Sophie Lennon looms large, making her climb up the comedy ladder more challenging than ever. As the actual grind of being a comic begins to take its toll on Midge, the pressure to come clean to her family weighs on her - especially as her choices have a ripple effect on everyone around her."

Rotten Tomatoes critic score (Season 2): 91%

What critics said: "The second season of Amazon's subversive screwball comedy The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel shows that if the show is succeeding, going bigger sometimes means better." — Dominic Patten, Deadline Hollywood

Season 2 premiered on Amazon December 5.

I'll get straight to the good part: Just open up Google and search for "Festivus." 

Yep, that's a Festivus pole — the traditional centerpiece of any good Festivus celebration. And just in time for Festivus, which is celebrated every year on December 23rd, too. Hey, that's today! 

The pole goes all the way down the page:

If you're unfamiliar, Festivus is a non-demonitational holiday — as in "Festivus, for the rest of us" — popularized by the classic sitcom "Seinfeld." The celebration sees family and friends gather around an unadorned aluminum pole, and perform traditions like the Feats of Strength and the Airing of Grievances. 

But don't take my word for it. Here's the official explanation, from "Seinfeld:" 

Also, it should be noted that Google has plenty of other, more traditional holiday surprises, too. 

This is what you get when you search for Christmas:

And Hannukah, which has already passed this year:

And Kwanzaa, which starts on December 26th:

SEE ALSO: 40 photos of Google's rise from a Stanford dorm room to becoming a global internet superpower

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Why NASA blasts half a million gallons of water during rocket launches

• "Aquaman" won the weekend box office with an estimated $72.1 million.
• It beat out other big releases out this weekend, "Mary Poppins Returns" and "Bumblebee."
• "Aquaman" now has a worldwide total of over $480 million.

Warner Bros. sure is happy there wasn't a "Star Wars" release this holiday season. 

The Disney franchise has dominated the end-of-year box office since 2015's "The Force Awakens," which led to analysts uncertainty over whether a single movie would be able to pick up the slack at the December box office this year. But Warner Bros.' DC Comics Extended Universe has proven the naysayers wrong and has stepped in to lead the box office going into the important Christmas holiday.

Among a crowded field of new releases this season, "Aquaman" has risen to be as big of a draw domestically as it is globally.

The movie took in an estimated $72.1 million over the weekend (including preview showings earlier in the week), beating out other big releases that opened going into Christmas — Disney's "Mary Poppins Returns" and Paramount's "Bumblebee." 

"Mary Poppins Returns" came in second with $22.2 million while "Bumblebee" came close behind in third place with $21 million.

Read more: "Aquaman" director James Wan chose the character "everyone makes fun of" because there'd be less pressure. Then the DC Comics franchise imploded.

It's a major win for Warner Bros., which has been on a roller coaster ride trying to make its DCEU as dominant in the superhero space as Disney's Marvel Cinematic Universe. Whenever the industry thought it was gaining momentum, say, with the big success of 2017's "Wonder Woman," it would take a few steps back, like with the disappointing "Justice League."

WB/DCEU is back on top with "Aquaman." Already the biggest box office earner ever in China, scoring $300 million-plus, the movie started strong going into its domestic box-office premier. The movie now has a $480 million-plus worldwide net. 

Now the industry will watch to see if the James Wan-directed superhero movie will get to a $100 million five-day domestic opening by the time it gets to Christmas.

But Warner Bros. isn't the only studio happy this weekend. Paramount must be ecstatic to be so close to knocking off Disney for second place with its latest Transformers movie, "Bumblebee." Having the best Rotten Tomatoes score out of all the new releases (94% rating, compared to 64% for "Aquaman" and 77% for "Mary Poppins Returns"), it will be a photo finish to see if a Transformer or a posh English nanny will earn the silver by Christmas.

Disney's "Mary Poppins Returns" opened lower than "A Wrinkle in Time," which earned the $33.1 million and "Christopher Robin," which found $24.5 million. It's surprising to see a Disney title not dominating this time of year, but with Poppins seeing mixed reviews and competing with strong fandoms, it has left the family-friendly title trying to find its footing. But business could pick up by Christmas when more families head out to the theaters.

Then there's Sony's holdover "Spider-Man: Into to Spider-Verse," which is staying strong despite all these new titles, which is a testament to its quality. The movie took in $16.7 million over the weekend, and has earned $85 million for its worldwide total.

SEE ALSO: Business Insider ranks the 11 best movies of 2018

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: The legendary economist who predicted the housing crisis says the US will win the trade war

It's been a great year for video games.

With the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One approaching the end of their life cycles, developers have delivered some of the best games of the console generation during 2018. The Nintendo Switch has also continued to expand its library of games in its second year, with some unique titles making ideal use of the portable console's strengths.

Open-world adventure games continue to dominate the mainstream market, but an increasingly diverse audience has brought fresh demand for games with engaging narratives and innovation for classic genres. Coupled with ever-improving technology and developing platforms like virtual reality, 2018 had no shortage of memorable releases.

Without further ado, here are the 20 can't-miss games released during 2018:

SEE ALSO: The 29 hottest video games you shouldn't miss in 2019

SEE ALSO: The 3 biggest games on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch this holiday season

"Monster Hunter World" (PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC)

"Monster Hunter" may not be a household name like "Super Mario" or "Tomb Raider," but the action role-playing series is one of the most popular video game franchises in Japan and has garnered a healthy fanbase around the world.

Though the series has typically been developed for handheld gaming systems, "Monster Hunter World" is the first "Monster Hunter" game in nearly 10 years made for home consoles. The result is a remarkably beautiful adventure that asks players to stand in awe of nature, even as they attempt to tame massive dragons and wild creatures.

"Marvel's Spider-Man" (PlayStation 4)

"Marvel's Spider-Man" is one the year's most popular games, and rightfully so. The PlayStation 4 exclusive takes cues from open-world action games like "Batman Arkham Knight" and "Shadow of Mordor" but introduces a new version of Spider-Man alongside a nearly picture-perfect rendering of Manhattan.

With a compelling original story that blends action and humor, "Marvel's Spider-Man" is a love letter to the character's legions of fans worldwide.

"Dragon Ball FighterZ" (Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, PC)

There have been plenty of Dragon Ball Z fighting games over the years, but the series has never looked better than it does with Arc System Works' custom cell-shaded graphics. Underneath the anime aesthetics, the game is still a masterfully crafted fighter, featuring team-based gameplay inspired by "Marvel vs Capcom" and implementing mechanics from other Arc Sys games like "Guilty Gear" and "BlazBlue."

• 2018 marks the first time ever that Imax grossed $1 billion at the global box office.
• "Avengers: Infinity War" was the highest global Imax performer of the year.

With 2018 coming to an end, the studios are counting their stacks of money and finding that the industry is poised to break box office records by New Year's Eve (the domestic box office has already passed the all-time record set in 2016 of $11.37 billion), and it looks like a big assist came from Imax.

The large-format screen company raked in over $1 billion at the global box office in 2018, marking the first time in the company's 50 year existence it has ever hit that milestone, according to a press release on Monday.

Imax noted that homegrown titles from China, Korea, Japan, Russia, and India that played on the format made up a combined box office of more than $100 million, but it's still the big blockbusters from Hollywood that are the major draw. And audiences came out in droves to see them on the huge Imax screens.

Here are the 10 highest-grossing Imax titles of 2018, with one being the highest:

SEE ALSO: Business Insider ranks the 11 best movies of 2018

10. "The Meg"

9. "Ant-Man and the Wasp"

8. "Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald"

• It's a great year to buy a video game console, with killer deals and prices lower than ever.
• Before giving your loved one a game console this holiday, there's one crucial thing you should do: Connect it to the internet and update it!
• Here's why — and how — to update each of the big three video game consoles.

It's Christmas Day and you're the nicest person: You splurged on an expensive video game console as a gift. 

As you sip on a hot cup of coffee, your loved one rips open the box and their face lights up with joy. A new game console! Everyone's very excited.

Unfortunately, that excitement quickly fades as the setup process begins:

1. First, there's the joy of unpacking the box. Look at all this shiny new stuff!
2. Then there's the process of hooking up the game console to your TV. Less fun maybe, but a necessary step on the way to new video games!
3. And finally, the console is hooked up. Time to play some new video games! Right? Right?! Nuh uh.

It's 2018, so it's actually time to update your system with the latest firmware.

And then video games, right?

Nope! You'll need to install each game individually if you bought them on disc, and then they'll almost certainly require some form of downloaded update. 

And then video games? Maybe? Please?

Maybe, if you don't have to update the software that runs your gamepad. On Xbox One controllers from before June 2015, that process requires plugging in each controller individually and updating it. Seriously! If it's from after June 2015, it may still need an update — but you can do it wirelessly, at least.

(NOTE: Follow Microsoft's instructions right here for how to update your gamepad.)

Long gone are the days of plug-and-play game consoles.

Even Nintendo's latest console, the Switch, requires an update when you first hook it up.

The processes vary a bit from Xbox One to PlayStation 4 to Switch, but they're all essentially forcing you to do the same thing: Plug in your system and download software from the internet that enables the game console to do basically anything, from play games to watch Netflix.

And that's why you, intrepid gift giver, should go above and beyond and set up that console with new firmware before gifting it. 

This is blessedly simple across all three game consoles: simply plug the system in as if it were yours and follow setup instructions. The consoles are all designed to be straightforward and simple to setup.

In case this is your first time, here are explicit instructions from each console maker directly:

• Setup instructions for the Nintendo Switch
• Setup instructions for the Microsoft Xbox One
• Setup instructions for the Sony PlayStation 4

You may have to create a temporary login, but they're easily deletable; the person who gets the game console will thank you. Or maybe they won't! But at very least you'll feel pretty good when they can simply turn the system on and enjoy it for what it is — a game console — rather than what it isn't: an expensive paperweight that needs an hour or more to talk to the internet before it can do anything.

And if you want to go all the way crazy, you can download firmware updates for the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 to a thumb drive so that whoever gets the console can update it themselves — and relatively quickly at that — while everyone else is waiting for system updates over the internet. And you know who else is going to be downloading system updates over the internet? Literally millions of people! Look at you, thinking ahead!

Happy holidays!

SEE ALSO: RANKED: The 10 best Super Mario games of all time

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Why NASA blasts half a million gallons of water during rocket launches

• Director Robert Zemeckis' "Welcome to Marwen" only earned $2.35 million at the domestic box office.
• That's the lowest opening by a major studio this year, beating the $2.39 million earned by Paramount's "Action Point" in June.
• It's also the second-straight box office bomb for Universal releases, following the weak opening last week by "Mortal Engines."
• For Zemeckis, it marks the director's third straight release that has been a box office failure. 

The problem with having a diverse slate of movies is that some will strike out. And Universal is definitely in a slump, with two box office bombs in the last two weeks. 

The latest was over the weekend with the most recent film from director Robert Zemeckis, "Welcome to Marwen." The Steve Carell-starring, CGI-heavy adaptation of the acclaimed 2010 documentary, "Marwencol," focuses on a man who heals from a vicious attack by creating a mini World War II-era town. Though the movie was right up the alley of the director of "Forrest Gump," it failed to grab audiences, earning only $2.35 million domestically over the weekend on 1,911 screens. 

That beat out Paramount's "Action Point," which was released in June, as the lowest opening weekend performance by a major studio this year. The Johnny Knoxville comedy earned $2.39 million on 1,176 screens in its opening.

"Marwen" follows Universal's release a week ago for the Peter Jackson-produced "Mortal Engines." The $100 million-plus CGI-spectacle only earned $42.3 million worldwide in its opening. It could potentially lose the studio (and the movie's other financiers) up to $150 million.

Read more: "Aquaman" tops "Mary Poppins Returns" and "Bumblebee" to become king of the weekend box office

Though that's two straight weeks of busts for Universal, the studio, which prides itself on releasing a diverse mix of titles every year (2018's slate ranged from the musical "Mama Mia: Here We Go Again" to the horror "Halloween" to the blockbuster "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom" to holiday season hit "The Grinch"), is still one of the biggest earners this year among the major studios.

The weak performance by "Marwen" may be more hurtful going forward for Zemeckis. 

It marks the third straight release by the legendary director that has underperformed. The 2016 spy drama, "Allied," starring Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard, only had a $12.7 million domestic opening and ended up only having a $119.5 million worldwide gross.

2015's "The Walk," an adaptation of the Oscar-winning documentary "Man on Wire," only had a $3.7 million opening when it eventually had its wide release. It went on to make only $61.1 million worldwide.

With a recent track record like this, it's likely studios will react more cautiously to Zemeckis' future ambitious movie ideas.

Universal had no comment for this story.

SEE ALSO: IMAX passes $1 billion mark at the global box office for the first time ever

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Bernie Madoff was arrested 10 years ago today — here's what his life is like in prison

• Tesla CEO Elon Musk says he's playing Zero Suit Samus as his main character in "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate."
• "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate" is a fighting game for the Nintendo Switch featuring an all-star lineup of characters from different video game franchises.
• The game has sold more than three million copies in the US since its December 7 release.
• Bounty hunter Samus Aran first debuted in "Metroid" (1986). Samus usually wears armor for space travel; the Zero Suit is her last defense when her armor is destroyed.

With more than three million copies sold in the US in less than two weeks, "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate" is one of the most popular video games of 2018 — and Nintendo can count Tesla CEO Elon Musk as one of its many players.

At its core, the Super Smash Bros. series is Nintendo's love letter to video games. It's a massive crossover between historic franchises that lets players battle each other with their favorite characters.

Seeing Nintendo's iconic characters duking it out side by side is the gaming equivalent of watching The Avengers assemble on screen.

When a Smash fan tweeted at Musk to ask which character he was playing in the new game, Musk responded with Zero Suit Samus, the protagonist of Nintendo's Metroid series.

"Metroid" introduced bounty hunter Samus Aran in 1986, but it's not until the end of the game that her face, and more notably her gender, are revealed.

As a space adventurer Samus understandably spends most of her time in her power suit, which also appears in "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate." Zero Suit refers to the rare occassions where Samus is forced to fight without her suit, equipped with rocket boots and her paralyzer pistol.

For dedicated players, choosing a "main" character to play in Smash often says something about your identity as a player. Your character dictates your strategy and also reflects your aesthetic taste.

Read more:What are Elon Musk's favorite video games?

In her skintight outfit, Zero Suit Samus seems ripe for objectification, but she also reflects a cool confidence with a fighting style that remains both lithe and lethal after she's been (literally) stripped of her powerful arsenal of missiles, bombs, and energy cannons.

She also happens to be pretty darn good in the game.

There are plenty of reasons for Musk to choose Zero Suit Samus as his favorite "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate" character, and plenty of fun to be had speculating just how much he knows about the femme fatale. Musk's general love of video games is no secret, so maybe someday we'll see just how well he can smash with Samus.

SEE ALSO: Elon Musk loves video games — here are his favorites

SEE ALSO: Elon Musk wants to let people play video games on the dashboard screen of Tesla cars

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: How SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Virgin Galactic plan on taking you to space

• Sony's got a big 2019 coming up.
• The much-anticipated follow-up to "The Last of Us" is expected to arrive on the PlayStation 4 — one of the last huge, exclusive games coming to Sony's PlayStation 4 consoles.
• Sony is also expected to announce the next PlayStation console in 2019, which may or may not be called the PlayStation 5.

For the 80-plus million PlayStation 4 owners, 2019 is going to be another big year.

Between the impending launch of blockbuster-to-be "The Last of Us: Part II," the expected launch of the mysterious (and gorgeous-looking) "Death Stranding," and the likely announcement of the next PlayStation console, Sony has a pretty massive year coming up.

So, with that in mind, we're looking ahead at the year to come in all things PlayStation.

SEE ALSO: The 10 best PlayStation 4 games for your new console

1. The PlayStation 5 is likely to get announced.

It's true: Sony has already announced its ongoing work on a successor to its current game console, the PlayStation 4 — which it may have already hinted will be called (what else) the PlayStation 5. 

Starting as early as May 2018, Sony executives were openly discussing work on the new console. And with PlayStation skipping the game industry's annual June trade show, E3, for the first time ever, it's entirely possible that the company will hold its own event specifically to announce the next PlayStation.

That said, we know little about what the console will be. We do know that it might not arrive until 2021.

"We will use the next three years to prepare the next step," PlayStation head John Kodera said in May.

Here's what we expect from the next PlayStation console: 

1. More horsepower, offering 4K/HDR support natively and, likely, support for G-Sync/FreeSync.
2. Backwards compatibility: Support for PlayStation 4 games, and potentially more.
3. A new, more powerful virtual reality headset.
4. An evolution of the PlayStation Now streaming service, potentially with PlayStation 5 games outright streamable.

2. The last few major exclusive games for the PlayStation 4, starting with "Days Gone."

"Days Gone" is shaping up to be something like "Sons of Anarchy" meets "28 Days Later." You play as a lone biker surviving in the wake of a global pandemic. Billions were wiped out, and many millions more became "freakers" — that's zombies to you and me.

As if zombies weren't scary enough, "Days Gone" turns them into a water-like mass capable of flooding into corridors with the speed and fury of a tsunami. They're a far more overwhelming threat than the "Night of the Living Dead" zombies in games like "Resident Evil."

That is, of course, when you're not riding away on your sweet hog — which is always an option.

"Days Gone" is the first major PlayStation 4 exclusive scheduled to arrive in 2019, on April 26.

Check out the latest trailer for "Days Gone" right here:

Youtube Embed:
//www.youtube.com/embed/VDpHSP0e_U4
Width: 800px
Height: 450px

• Hafþór Björnsson is the official World's Strongest Man, having won the title at the 2018 World's Strongest Man competition.
• He's also known for his acting role as Gregor "The Mountain" Clegane on the HBO hit series "Game of Thrones."
• Björnsson is 6'9" and weighs 400 pounds, a size he maintains by consuming up to 10,000 calories every day.
• He told Business Insider that the secret to his strength has much to do with his diet and exercise, but even more to do with positive thinking.

2018 was a big year for Iceland's Hafþór Björnsson, who usually (and fittingly) goes by the nickname Thor.

He turned 30, got married, and won the World's Strongest Man competition, a goal he had sought for more than half a decade. He can add that to a résumé including titles such as Strongest Man in Iceland and winner of the Arnold Strongman Classic. And there's his acting role as Gregor "The Mountain" Clegane on the HBO hit series "Game of Thrones."

At six feet nine inches tall, Björnsson was always a big guy. But he didn't bulk up to 400 pounds of largely muscle through genes alone. He became the strongest man currently walking the planet through years of hard work, disciplined diet and exercise, and a positive attitude.

Realizing he had a 'gift for strength'

Björnsson told us that his participation in sports started with playing basketball when he was 12 years old. But he also spent a lot of time on his grandfather's farm, where he said he stayed active by "moving huge stones and rocks." By 16, he was at his full height, and by 19, he said, he realized he "had a gift for strength."

A recurring ankle injury that ended Björnsson's budding basketball career at age 20 would lead him to make the most of that gift, as he soon began entering strongman competitions.

When preparing for a strongman event, his training consists of a varied regimen of exercise and physical therapy sessions, helping him maintain strength while avoiding the injuries so easy to experience when a person works with hundreds of pounds of weight (or even a thousand-plus pounds, in some cases).

"I train with heavyweights five times a week. I'm in the gym so often," he said. "But there's also a lot of other stuff I do outside of the gym. I do a lot of hot and cold treatments to make sure I stay injury-free, and so I can also train more often."

Eating up to 10,000 calories a day

When we sat down with him to ask how he stays strong and in shape, the food containers stacked beside the couch indicated that diet was definitely a part of the picture.

"Diet is very important to stay in shape, to stay strong. So I'm very consistent with my meals. I eat six meals every single day," he said. "I eat mostly steak, rice, carrots, with some peppers, sometimes chicken. I eat so much, really. And definitely the hardest part of being in these competitions really is the diet."

Björnsson said that he eats up to 10,000 calories each day to be able to maintain the shape and strength necessary for competitions.

"There's a lot of eating, if you want to stay the best," he said. "I have to eat every two hours, I have to fuel my body. And there's a lot of timing, prepping meals, when I eat them. I think sometimes, 'Is this worth it?' I'm always eating, and I'm never hungry. I'm always eating and working out."

Read more:I tried intermittent fasting for a month — and I saw 7 life-changing results

The power of positivity

Becoming the World's Strongest Man goes beyond the approximately 10,000 calories Bjornsson consumes daily and the hours spent in the gym. It's also largely a mental game.

"I don't have a least favorite exercise, I don't believe in thinking about that, about least favorites," he said, when asked to name one. "I don't like to think that way. You have to have your mind positive towards everything in life, and I try to be very positive. To be good at everything, you have to be positive towards it. I train and I work very hard toward my weaknesses, and I have any weaknesses, I work even harder to make them my strength."

But does The Mountain have a favorite exercise?

"My favorite exercise is the deadlift, definitely that one," he said.

That comes as no surprise, as in the spring of 2018 he set a deadlift world record by lifting 1,041 pounds.

SEE ALSO: A Canadian photographer who built his 104-square-foot tiny house with his own hands says he 'house-hacked' his way into 'living for free'

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: How "Game of Thrones" sets stunt people on fire

The evolution of red and green as Christmas colors is a convoluted story. According to Arielle Eckstut, the coauthor of "The Secret Language of Color," both nature and Coca-Cola had a hand in shaping that history.

Following is a transcript of the video.

Arielle Eckstut: So there is no definitive history of the colors of Christmas. It's not like one day red and green were declared the colors. There's a long history, and a kind of convoluted one, behind it.

I'm Arielle Eckstut, and I am the co-author of "The Secret Language of Color."

What's most interesting about the red and green color combination of Christmas is that it's a combination of the beauty of nature and the crassness of commerce that come together to solidify the image of these two colors in our collective mind.

So first, let's talk about nature. And when we think about Christmas and colder climates, we think about holly trees and those beautiful bright-red berries against the green foliage of the tree. And there's a long history of holly and its associations with humans, including it being the crown of thorns for Jesus. So around the holiday time, because holly is the one bright thing in the environment in colder climates, nature has given us it as a symbol, and pagans used it, and to this day we still think of holly as associated with Christmas.

The Victorians are often associated with the red and green of Christmas. But if you go back and look, for example, atVictorian Christmas cards, you're not just going to see red and green — you're gonna see red and blue, blue and green, blue and white, all different palettes. Yes, some red and green, but not dominating the landscape.

If you look at Santa Claus during Victorian times, you're also not going to see him depicted in red robes that we associate now.  Then Santa sort of takes a leap in the early part of the 20th century, and we see lots of different artists depicting him in red robes. And he becomes a jollier, fatter figure than he ever was before. Then we get to about 1931, I believe, and Coca-Cola hires an artist named Haddon Sundblom to depict Santa Claus. And we see this incredibly fat, jolly, red-cheeked fellow with these big red-and-white robes. Again, he's not the first person to do it, but Coca-Cola uses this ad as its big Christmas campaign, and it's seen all around the United States. And this is when we really start to see the colors of red and green defined as the colors of Christmas.

So it's kind of a combination of nature, with those red berries and green foliage, and commerce, Coca-Cola with the bright red robes and the green foliage in the background of the ads, that solidifies in our imagination these colors.

This video was originally published on December 20, 2017.

Join the conversation about this story »