To the casual observer, Jennifer Lawrence has had a pretty terrific year.

The actress climbed to the very top of Hollywood's young A-list, fought for gender equality in Hollywood, and finished off her enormous "Hunger Games" franchise, leaving room for many more milestones to come.

But none of those was her favorite moment of 2015.

That honor, the actress tells Entertainment Weekly in a new interview, goes to the time she hung out with comedian and friend Amy Schumer and got onstage at a Billy Joel concert.

“I think the best thing that happened this year was when my friend Amy and I got so drunk that we ended up on the top of Billy Joel’s piano," she told EW. "So just to explain further, we were on Piano Man’s piano.”

"Amy is the s--t," Lawrence continued. She explained that Schumer was invited to appear at the concert, but insisted that Lawrence join her.

Lawrence and Schumer danced atop Joel's piano at his Wrigley Field concert in Chicago, reenacting the "Uptown Girl" sequence from Schumer's "Trainwreck." The comic provided video evidence on Twitter.

Uptown girls pic.twitter.com/zBY0q1wVB1

— Amy Schumer (@amyschumer) August 28, 2015

SEE ALSO: Jennifer Lawrence got drunk to film her sex scene with Chris Pratt

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NOW WATCH: Emma Watson had an awesome reaction when Malala Yousafzai called herself a feminist

In an era when rock and roll was dominated by the likes of the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, and Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin broke through as one of the top female singers of the 1960s with her potent, soulful vocals and relatable personality.

Though, on the surface, Joplin inspired millions of female fans with her independent style and ferociously confident stage presence, offstage the singer used her hard partying to mask an aching desire to find a companion. A heroin overdose led to her death at the age of 27 in 1970.

The meteoric rise and all-too-young death of Joplin were ripe for the Hollywood treatment. Yet somehow, 45 years after her passing, a biopic still hasn’t been made about the artist.

But it’s not due to a lack of trying.

For decades, numerous projects and actresses have attempted to make films about Joplin's life and career, only to fail miserably. Some of that had to do with the filmmakers not having the proper rights. In other cases, the actresses attached could no longer keep their schedules open for a movie that never seemed to have a start date, or they aged out of the role.

'Joplin,' 20 years on

One producer has stayed the course to make the first-ever Joplin biopic.

Peter Newman, who was a freshman in college when Joplin died, has been working on a movie about the singer since the late 1990s. At the time, he and his producing partners were working with Sony’s TriStar division on the project after the studio accumulated an extensive set of exclusive Joplin music and life rights. But biopics then weren’t as attractive as they are today. So not seeing much in the way of box-office dollars or gold statuettes in their future, Sony shelved it.

In the early 2000s, Newman teamed with a group of investors to buy the project in turnaround from Sony. And thus began the quest to make the film, titled “Janis,” independently.

“There’s sort of five legs to the table to get a film like this made,” Newman told Business Insider over the phone last week. “One is rights, another is a script, you need a director, of course a star, and the final thing is money. I’ve had a combination of all those over the last 20 years, but never all five [at once].”

Newman can’t keep track of all the actresses who have been involved. But he doesn’t have to because the internet is flush with reminders of his attempts over the years.

Lili Taylor, Pink, and Zooey Deschanel have all been attached at one time. Then there are the Joplin projects that Newman isn’t involved with that have had the likes of Brittany Murphy, Renée Zellweger, and Amy Adams attached (more on the latter shortly).

Currently, “Janis” has director Sean Durkin (“Martha Marcy May Marlene”) attached with Broadway star Nina Arianda cast to play Joplin.

Joplin’s legendary status has motivated multiple concurrent projects to keep going. But Newman’s trump card is the nature of the rights he holds, which would likely make his project feel more authentic than any other.

Newman doesn’t just hold the Joplin life rights and the rights to 21 of her best-known songs — he also owns the life rights to Joplin’s old band, Big Brother and the Holding Company (there are two surviving members), the life rights to Joplin’s close friend Peggy Caserta (as well as the rights to a book she wrote about her time with Joplin), and the rights to a collection of letters Joplin wrote to her friends and family.

In total, Newman said, he and his partners have invested over $2.5 million in the Joplin rights that they’ve accumulated over the last 20 years. To put that in perspective, the total cost to make and deliver to a distributor the 2005 Oscar-nominated film that Newman produced, “The Squid and the Whale,” was $1.5 million.

But that didn’t sway music producer-turned-screenwriter Ron Terry from getting his own Joplin biopic off the ground. In November 2014, it was announced that he had attached director Jean-Marc Vallee ("Dallas Buyers Club") and Amy Adams to star in the project titled “Get It While You Can.” But the film hit a speed bump when Terry was sued by the film's producers in March for breach of contract. 

"It is possible to make a Janis Joplin movie without portraying a majority of people in her private life and a majority of her music,” Newman said. “But in my mind it would be deficient and I can't conceive how it would get done.” (Attempts to reach Terry for comment for this story were unsuccessful.)

Finding the 'real' Janis

“You can’t force this. I want a movie to make us really believe all her different complexities,” said filmmaker Amy Berg, who knows a bit about trying to capture the true Joplin. Her documentary “Janis: Little Girl Blue” is finally being released in theaters this Friday after eight years of work.

In fact, Berg used the services of Newman to get a few people who knew Joplin to talk for the film. The letters Berg features in "Little Girl Blue" are the same ones Newman has the rights to (he was happy to allow Berg to use them in her film).

A number of hurdles kept the doc from completion, Berg says, including finding a backer and working out the rights for footage to be included in the film. But she admits the biggest struggle was finding the right actress to be the Joplin voiceover. Though most of the film is made up of archival footage of the real Joplin, for the Joplin letters, Berg needed someone with a voice close to the real Joplin.

“I would get suggestions from all the agencies, and some of the singers that I interviewed for the film wanted to do it,” Berg said. “I couldn't find someone that didn't have — I hate to say chip on their shoulder — but there's a certain kind of energy that would go into reading these letters that had an agenda attached to it.”

It wasn’t until March of this year that she came across singer-songwriter Chan Marshall (aka Cat Power).

“I showed the movie to the Big Brother and the Holding Company band members and they told me they thought it was Janis reading the letters,” Berg said.

“The image of Janis dims with age, so seeing Janis up there blew me away,” Janis’ sister Laura Joplin told Business Insider of the Berg film. Laura and her brother Michael handle Janis’ estate. “I hope I feel the same way when a narrative film about her comes out. I hope one gets made. Janis has been important for women and I hope whoever does it allows that aspect to be shown.”

Berg is happy she went the documentary route to highlight Joplin. Namely, because of the wealth of archival material at her disposal.

She recalled the time she was offered the opportunity to make a biopic of another musician who died young, '90s singer-songwriter Jeff Buckley. But after going through his archive, she declined to do it because she thought the best way to tell Buckley’s story was as a documentary.

“I would always lean toward doc in these circumstances,” Berg said.

The Joplin biopic gets some good news

Newman, however, has never been motivated over the past two decades to pivot to nonfiction.

And that resilience may have finally paid off. It appears that Newman finally has all five legs he needs at the same time.

This week, Newman disclosed to Business Insider that he has secured a $20 million budget for “Janis” through financier Start Motion Pictures (which just bankrolled the upcoming Jennifer Lawrence/Chris Pratt sci-fi thriller “Passengers”). Respected British production company Film 4 (“12 Years a Slave”) has also come onboard.

Durkin is currently in the UK working on the script with British playwright Clara Brennan. The plan is to make neither a traditional "cradle-to-the-grave" biopic nor a wholly unconventional work in the style of Aaron Sorkin's "Steve Jobs," but something possibly in the middle. According to Newman, a start date on the film shooting has been set for August 2016.

After dozens of scripts thrown into the waste basket and millions spent on development costs, Newman remains unwavering in his dedication to the Joplin project. He attributes this to the usual "moral obligation" to his investors, but when pressed further, the answer he gives is very simple:

“I never give up on a film.”

Millions of Joplin fans wouldn't have it any other way.

Watch the “Janis: Little Girl Blue” trailer:

SEE ALSO: "Beasts of No Nation" director Cary Fukunaga talks Netflix's mysterious streaming numbers and more

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Disney, the parent company of ESPN, warned that the sports network may keep losing subscribers.

During an earnings conference call in August, Disney CEO Bob Iger said that ESPN had "experienced some modest [subscriber] losses" because of an overall decline in multichannel cable subscriptions in US households.

A regulatory filing submitted Wednesday evening and cited by The Hollywood Reporter indicates the losses are much greater.

ESPN networks now have 92 million subscribers, according to THR. It was 95 million last year and 99 million in 2013.

The loss of 7 million subscribers potentially amounts to hundreds of millions of dollars in lost annual revenue.

The cable industry at large has suffered a kind of exodus over the past few years, as TV streaming and over-the-top services multiply and consumers find ways to either trim down their cable subscriptions or, in some cases, cut them altogether.

SEE ALSO: Google is about to test something secretive across all of the US — and it sounds exactly like its Project Loon balloons

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NOW WATCH: 1% of daily fantasy players take home almost all of the payouts

Not long after moving into the new house, we realized that there just wasn't enough room my ever-expanding comic book collection.

And so, with a heavy heart, I canceled my account with my local comic book store, and started the process of re-subscribing to all my comic books digitally, via Amazon's Comixology service.

A big part of why I still went to the store — San Francisco's amazing Isotope Comics, to be specific — was because a good comic book store is also a great place to hang out.

Even after the comics had started piling up to a dangerous degree, I liked just visiting the store too much to really consider an all-digital alternative. 

It got to the point where I was using my boxes of comic books to prop up my desk. Seriously.

So for me, after more than a decade of regular trips to comic book stores on two coasts to pick up my haul, this is the end of an era. For the comics industry, currently in the middle of a tremendous boom period, it's a sign of big, technology-driven change to come.

And unlike what happened to the music industry, the digital comics revolution seems to be helping everybody: customers, creators, publishers, and stores alike. But mostly me, with my storage issue.

The app for that

The de facto standard for digital comics is Comixology, an app that lets you buy and read comic books on the web, phones, and tablets. It started as a tool to help comic book store customers manage their in-store "pull list" subscriptions, but pivoted into digital comics circa 2009.

When Amazon bought Comixology back in 2014, it claimed that people were using the app to download 8 million comics per month. As of June of this year, The Guardian reported that digital comic books accounted for 10% of all comic sales in the US alone.

Comixology works a little bit like the Amazon Kindle apps, but for comics, and looks like this:

When Comixology first came around with this app in 2009, the big publishers like Marvel and DC were holdouts, leaving it to the smaller, independent companies to stock the virtual shelves. Plus, independent companies like Dark Horse Comics were insistent that they could make their own way, with their own apps.

But times change, and now just about every comic book publisher releases their comics via Comixology, selling them at the same price you would buy it for in stores (usually between $2.99 and $4.99 per 20-to-30 page issue. This hobby ain't cheap). And they come out on the same day they hit stores.

In addition to the new releases, there's an already-huge-and-growing selection of archival issues from comics' long history. On Comixology, you can pick up Action Comics #1, Superman's 1938 first appearance for $0.99, which is vastly cheaper than the $3.2 million that a print version sold for at auction last year.

You can manage subscriptions in Comixology, so it automatically downloads your new comics every Wednesday, which is when the fresh books hit stores. And many publishers (except Marvel and DC Comics) let you download restriction-free PDFs of your purchased comics to your computer.

An extremely nice bonus is that Comixology also lets brick-and-mortar comic book stores set up digital storefronts. So I can still buy my comics and have some cash go back to the Isotope. 

One annoying thing: Last year, Amazon took out the ability to directly buy comics via the iPhone or iPad, seemingly chafing that Apple takes a cut of in-app purchases. So you have to actually buy the comics via the web browser on those devices.

Netflix for comics

The other absolutely vital app for comic book readers is Marvel Digital Unlimited, for web, iOS, and Android. It's $10 a month or $69 a year, and despite some bugs it's absolutely wonderful.

Marvel Digital Unlimited looks like this:

Marvel Digital Unlimited is basically Netflix for Marvel Comics: It has 17,000-plus comics from Marvel's 75-some-odd year history, going back to the era of World War II era of Human Torch and Captain America comics. Every Monday, a new batch arrives.

The company has a clever way to keep people on the hook for new comics: Marvel Digital Unlimited is on a permanent six-month delay from Marvel's regular release schedule. So while you get every Marvel title, including its recent run of pretty great "Star Wars" tie-ins, you have to shell out for the regular issues if you want to stay totally current.

Marvel also wisely curates lists of notable storylines and character appearances, making it easier to navigate that overwhelming flood of comics. 

There are some drawbacks. You need to be connected to the Internet at all times to fully take advantage of Marvel Digital Unlimited, since you can only store 12 comics for offline reading at a time. And the app itself is super buggy, with crashes on the regular.

But for the value you get, it's totally worth it. And no, there's no equivalent app for DC Comics, so no Batman or Superman to be found here.

To be continued

There's a lot you lose when you go all-digital. For instance, many comic creators are still designing their pages with print in mind, and they don't always look great on a smaller screen:

Both Comixology and Marvel Digital Unlimited make it easy to zoom in to each individual panel, but then you lose the effect of the page as a whole.

On the other hand, Marvel and DC have both been using the potential of digital comics to play around with formats and styles. 

And since 2013, Marvel has had its irregular series of "Infinite Comics," designed to be viewed on a digital screen:

At the same time, DC has been running experiments in short, weekly comic book series spotlighting major characters like Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, selling each for a cheaper 99 cents.  

Meanwhile, Marvel has made it a point of including a digital download code with its print comics, so you get both copies (and hiking prices $1 per issue almost across the board for the privilege). DC tried, but ultimately abandoned, a similar initiative. 

All of that said, the absolute best part of digital comics is how it's sparked a reinvigoration of the comic book market. By removing the need to go to a comic book store, digital comics have opened up the door to a much broader audience, well past the traditional, stereotypical comic book nerd.

It means that in addition to established characters like Wolverine and Ant-Man, there's finally established room in the market for non-superhero, non-traditional comics like "Saga," "Lumberjanes," and "The Wicked and the Devine" to become smash hits.

And so, while I'm definitely lamenting the fact that I'm going to be visiting Isotope Comics a little less, at least I know that I'm still supporting both my local comic book store and a growing industry in independent comics. Plus, hey, fewer boxes to lug around. 

SEE ALSO: Google has an amazing hidden 'Star Wars' joke right in the search engine

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NOW WATCH: Comic fans tell us who would win in a fight between Batman and Superman

Forget 15 minutes of fame. Ever since its launch almost two years ago, Vine's stars have used its six-second videos to make a name for themselves.

These 11 Vine users have risen from relative obscurity and are now followed by millions of people. Some have even landed record deals or TV show and movie deals because of Vine — and they're the best of the best. 

Matthew Espinosa

Matthew Espinosa is a high-schooler, but he's also one of the most popular Viners on the planet. Matthew was part of MagCon, a collective of the biggest names in Vine who staged meet-and-greet conventions across the country for their IRL fans.

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Brittany Furlan

Brittany Furlan is Vine's most popular female star. She's since landed a deal for a sketch-comedy show being produced by Seth Green.

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KingBach

Andrew B. Bachelor, better known as KingBach, is the most popular Viner in the world. The Canadian-born Vine star grew up in Florida, and was one of the NCAA's best high jumpers.

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Here's some late Thanksgiving humor courtesy of Larry David.

From FunnyOrDie.com:

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Watching TV has never been as interactive as it is today.

Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram have become what we're really talking about when we use the phrase "word of mouth."

And then there's the real-time nature of social media. If a show is working right, there's almost no way to avoid the blur of tweets reacting to what's happening. Chalk it up to FOMO (fear of missing out), but people want to be part of the action.

This live audience is what networks are craving most in the era of DVR, online, and other forms of delayed viewing. Having a strong social-media following can mean the difference between 100 episodes and 10 these days. 

By taking into account research provided by Amobee Brand Intelligence, Nielsen's Twitter TV ratings, as well as regular TV ratings, Business Insider has chosen the shows that are both taking advantage of and reaping the most benefits from social media.

Here are 13 programs whose social-media game is winning:

SEE ALSO: It's time to stop watching these 8 shows, because they're probably going to be canceled

MORE: 8 TV shows you're not watching that you should be

"Dancing with the Stars" (ABC)

While other reality competitions have been seeing their ratings drop, "Dancing with the Stars" has been innovating and making changes that are keeping its fans engaged.

"Scream Queens" (Fox)

"Scream Queens" got the most marketing dollars of all of Fox's shows this fall and it's getting the rewards. Its premiere episode earned the most tweets of any program on Tuesday, September 22, even though ABC's "The Muppets" beat it in the Nielsen ratings. And as the show has progressed, fans are still very much engaged.

"How to Get Away with Murder" (ABC)

Taking a page from sister Shonda Rhimes drama "Scandal," "How to Get Away with Murder" had a strong social-media presence from its beginning – even if it clashed with viewers over hashtags #HowtoGetAwayWithMurder and #HTGAWM.

There aren't many rivalries in movies as rich in history as that of boxers Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) and Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers).

For four films in the "Rocky" franchise, the two went from mortal enemies to best of friends. Now with the series getting a rebirth with the film "Creed," which tracks the rise of Apollo's son Adonis (Michael B. Jordan) in the boxing world, it's a good time to look back on the history behind the sequel. Specifically the link between Rocky and Creed.

Here's a refresher on the two boxers' relationship, which is referenced more than a few times in "Creed" (currently in theaters).

SEE ALSO: Why "Creed" is a strong contender for this year's Oscar race

We first meet Apollo Creed in "Rocky." Then the undefeated heavyweight champion of the world, he must find a replacement for his match in Philadelphia after his original opponent injured his hand.

He chooses to face Rocky Balboa, a southpaw fighter from Philly who was known better on the streets as a loan shark than a boxer.

Not taking his opponent seriously, Creed comes to the fight unprepared, thinking it will be an easy win.

Pity the poor Wii U.

When the device was introduced in 2012 as Nintendo's successor to the smash-hit Wii video game console, expectations were high that the Japanese game company would once again create a monster hit.

Instead, the Wii U has proved to be a huge flop, selling just over 10 million units in the past three years. The original Wii sold 73 million in the same period.

It has caused Nintendo to post losses for the past three years as the company regroups to work on its next console, codenamed the "NX."

Meanwhile, the Sony PlayStation 4 leads this generation of video game consoles, with Microsoft angling its Xbox One hard for a comeback.

But don't listen to the haters. This Black Friday, you will be able to get some seriously great deals on the Wii U console and some top-shelf games, and it's more than worth your consideration.

Here's why the Wii U is actually a work of misunderstood genius.

SEE ALSO: The 11 most important differences between Macs and PCs

The Wii U's whole sales pitch is that its primary controller, the Wii U Gamepad, is also a touch screen "tablet." But it stops working entirely if it gets too far from the console, so don't get any big ideas.

It means two big things. First, games can get touch-screen controls — games like "New Super Mario Bros. U" for the Wii U let one player touch the screen to freeze enemies or hold moving platforms in place.

Second, it means you can actually play many Wii U games on the smaller screen by itself, no TV required. It's a handy thing if you live somewhere where television time is hard to come by.

Before making the critically acclaimed Netflix movie “Beasts of No Nation,” Cary Fukunaga was known best for directing the complete first season of “True Detective.”

His efforts not only got him an Emmy, but showed off his stunning visual eye, with gorgeous wide shots of Louisiana bayou country and the now-famous six-minute single shot in the finale of one of the episodes.

But along with the praise came rumors that he and the show’s creator, Nic Pizzolatto, never got along during the making of the season.

Fukunaga never intended to take the directing reins for season two of the anthology series, as it moved to Los Angeles to focus on the shady dealings of city officials, police, and the underworld. Though he did stay on as an executive producer.

But Fukanaga can’t escape the “True Detective” questions. And it turns out he still hasn't gotten around to watching season two.

“They finished it right when we started [‘Beasts of No Nation’],” Fukunaga told Vulture in late September about why he hadn’t watched season two yet. “I like to binge-watch.”

So last week, we asked Fukunaga if he’s binged it.

“I have not,” he said.

He’s not curious that Pizzolatto supposedly based a character on him this season?

“No. Not really,” he said. “And me not watching it is not a statement. I haven’t had the time.”

But he did have time to check out the newest original comedy series on Netflix.

“The only think I’ve binged is Aziz Ansari’s 'Master of None,'” he said. “It’s great.” 

SEE ALSO: "Beasts of No Nation" director Cary Fukunaga talks Netflix's mysterious streaming numbers and more

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NOW WATCH: A team of surgeons gave this little boy new hands

It's the week of Thanksgiving, which means that millions of people are not only going to be stuffing themselves with turkey, pie, and mashed potatoes, but also hunting for the best deals.

Look no further, because here are the best Black Friday tech deals.

We'll be updating this throughout the week as more deals come out, so be sure to check back often.

You can save $100 on an iPhone 6S.

What it is: The iPhone 6S and 6S Plus.

Black Friday Price: Starting at $99.99 with two-year contract.

Normal Price: Starting at $199.99 with a two-year contract.

Timing: Starts Wednesday November 25.

Where to buy: Best Buy, online and in stores.

Best Buy is selling the MacBook Pro for $200 off

What it is: The 13.3" MacBook Pro

Black Friday Price: $899.99

Normal Price: $1,099.99

Timing: Nov. 26-28

Where to buy: Best Buy, online and in stores

Best Buy is selling the iPad Air 2 at a $100-$125 discount

What it is: The iPad Air 2, Apple's latest (regular-sized) tablet. Best Buy is offering discounts of $100 on the 16 and 64GB models, and $125 discounts on the 128GB model.

Black Friday Price: Starts at $399.99 for 16GB.

Normal Price: Starts at $499.99 for 16GB

Timing: Nov. 26-28

Where to buy: Best Buy Stores

Amid debates on America's policing methods, Nick Berardini's debut feature "Killing them Safely" explains how two brothers revolutionized law enforcement by building the world's largest Taser manufacturer, arming and training America's police, and becoming millionaires in the process.

Startling archival footage accompanies candid interviews with cardiologists, lawyers, police officers, politicians, families who lost a loved one from a deployed Taser, and a spokesperson from Taser International.

Rick and Tom Smith founded Taser International in 1993 and have sold their stun gun to almost all of the US' 18,250 law-enforcement agencies (only about 450 police departments do not deploy the Taser), according to the company.

As the film progresses, these seemingly innocuous figures appear more and more sinister as we see them jump through hoops to avoid taking responsibility for the potential harm their product inflicts.

The film makes a salient point when it juxtaposes the Smith brothers' apathetic depositions and the upsetting police dash-cam footage showing the death of Stanley Harlan.

Harlan, 23, died after he was stunned for 31 seconds outside of his home in Moberly, Missouri.

In 2008, Harlan was pulled over by officers for suspicion of either speeding or drunken driving (the reason remains unclear). Harlan appeared to cooperate with police, but within seconds multiple cops grabbed him and walked him off camera. He was then stunned three times and entered cardiac arrest, according to a police handout obtained by CBS News.

Moments later, Harlan's body was dragged back into view of the dash cam. Officers attempted to wake him up during the next 14 minutes, but it was too late. Harlan died of cardiac arrest in front of his home and his screaming parents.

"That seemed so aggressive to me and such an obvious misuse of force that I became really sympathetic towards the family," said Berardini, who at the time of Harlan's death was 24 years old and aspiring to be a filmmaker.

Still, the Smith brothers contend in the film that the Taser is perfectly safe and simply cannot do any serious harm.

In their depositions, as well as in a Canadian Parliament hearing on the matter, the brothers assuredly deny all assertions their product can kill.

When asked about a specific instance involving a death by Taser, Rick Smith responds, "What I'm saying is that to the best of our knowledge it does not appear that the direct electric effects of the Taser would be the most likely cause of the cardiac arrest."

Rick's brother echoes this later on: "In terms of the studies that have been done we have not seen anything conclusively that has come back scientifically that has said a Taser has killed."

According to the company's running tally, of the more than 2.7 million Taser deployments, about 141,000 lives have been saved.

In 2009, however, Taser International updated its training procedures to include that officers should not aim for the chest.

After issuing the update, the company scheduled a nationwide call, featured in the film, with its police-department clients to explain the need for the adjustment. Then-CEO Rick Smith is heard on the call telling officers: "Are chest hits with a Taser dangerous? The answer to that is definitively no."

There are a few other unfathomable moments in the film that truly have to be seen to be believed. "Killing them Safely" highlights the ineptitude not only of Taser International but also of the governing bodies and police departments that have allowed this organization to essentially have a monopoly over the training and safety of the device.

"Killing them Safely" is a painstakingly researched and compelling film that demands to be seen. It's bigger than some true-crime story that affects the lives of a handful of people — the horrors brought to light in this film have an effect on every American citizen.

Here is the trailer for "Killing them Safely":

Killing them Safely opens at IFC Center in New York, for tickets and showtimes please click here.

Brett Arnold contributed to this report.

Disclosure: Brett Arnold and Amanda Macias are former classmates of the filmmakers.

SEE ALSO: How a then-24-year-old filmmaker exposed the Taser industry in a bombshell new documentary

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"Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling just weighed in on a raging debate over the character of Severus Snape.

After years of hating the Dark Arts professor and Slytherin advisor, fans had their minds blown when it was revealed by the conclusion of the books that Snape was actually working with headmaster Dumbledore the entire time and protecting Harry – all because he loved Harry's mother.

But does that mean the bullying and coldness he subjected the children to, especially Harry, was to be forgiven? Or that he should be given a pass for allowing (and standing by) the Death Eaters' murderous ways?  Some fans don't think so. In a buzzfeed poll, about 20% of respondents didn't believe Snape was a hero.

Early on Friday, Rowling took to Twitter to give her take on the debate. And you probably guessed that it's complicated, not black or white.

 She also addressed her decision to have Harry name one of his children after Snape, the man who tortured him for years while at the same time helping to protect him. According to Rowling, Harry did it to honor Snape's love for his mother and to show forgiveness for how Snape treated him.

SEE ALSO: Tickets to the new Harry Potter play sold out in less than an hour and fans are having a meltdown

MORE: All of the Harry Potter books with lots of extra bells and whistles are finally available on Apple devices exclusively

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NOW WATCH: You can now live inside a 'Harry Potter' film set

The price of a one-day ticket to Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World in Orlando was hiked up to $105 back in February.

But 3-figure price tag hasn't stopped people from going there.

Quite the opposite, actually.

Disney's Magic Kingdom actually saw an increase in attendance in all of the last five years except 2010 despite the fact that the price of admission also went up, according to a chart shared by Bank of America analysts led by Savita Subramanian. 

And this shows how much pricing power Disney actually has.

For those unfamiliar, "pricing power" refers to the effect that a change in a firm's product price has on the quantity demand of that product. So, for a company with little pricing power, if it increases its prices, demand for its goods will probably drop. (For example: if Gap suddenly started charging you $1,000 for socks, you'd probably never shop there again.)

So the fact that more and more people continue to attend the Magic Kingdom every year — even as prices continue to increase in a world where inflation and wage growth remains low — shows that Disney has some serious pricing power.

It's worth noting that consumers are increasingly more interested in spending money on "experiences" rather than on things, which could partially explain why people are paying handsomely for tourist spots like Magic Kingdom right now.

It's also important to emphasize that not every company is like Disney. In some industries, newer, cheaper, disruptive competitors — such as robo-advisors, Airbnb, or fast fashion companies like Zara— have put deflationary pressure on the old-school stalwarts.

"Pricing power may be most at risk for select industries with traditional business models like retailers and hotels, another reason we remain cautious on these areas within the Consumer discretionary sector," noted the BAML analysts. 

In any case, in a world where some companies keep slashing prices to keep up with the rising stars, Disney has successfully continued hiking the cost of tickets to Magic Kingdom.

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Adam Sandler released his fourth rendition of "The Chanukah Song" 13 years after the first three to include additions such as characters from "Frozen" and Jared, the controversial former Subway spokesperson.

"Jared from Subway: Goddamnit, a Jew. But guess who’s Jewish and can fix him? Loveline’s Dr. Drew," Sandler sang during a performance in San Diego November 18.

Last week, Fogle was sentenced to 15 years and eight months in prison for charges relating to child pornography and sex with a minor.

Other names Sandler mentioned include: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, Maroon 5's Adam Levine, Drake, Scarlett Johansson, Princess Leia, Elsa from "Frozen" and David Beckham, who is "a quarter chosen." And he didn't leave out Shia LaBeouf, who is "half a Jew, but 100 percent nutty."

He premiered the fourth version at the New York Comedy Festival’s Judd Apatow & Friends event on November 14.

The original "Chanukah Song" debuted on "Saturday Night Live" in 1994 and was featured on his comedy album, "What the Hell Happened to Me?"

According to Nielsen's SoundScan, since 2014, "The Chanukah Song" is the ninth-largest selling holiday digital song ever, with 688,000 downloads. Sandler released Part 2 in 1999 on his fourth album "Stan and Judy's Kid " and Part 3 in 2002 as part of the "Eight Crazy Nights" soundtrack.

Watch the fourth part here:

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"Creed" is rising as a strong competitor after raking in $6.45 million on Thursday, a 7% increase from Wednesday.

During the Thanksgiving holiday, "Creed" came in third at the box office, following behind "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2" and Pixar's "The Good Dinosaur," as Deadline reports. It's rare to see a film's box-office haul rise from its opening day before the holiday, as with "Creed."

The film is an extension of the "Rocky" franchise, featuring Michael B. Jordan as Adonis Creed, the son of Apollo Creed, and Syllvester Stallone reprising his role as Rocky Balboa.

Since its November 25 release, the film has earned $12.4 million. 

The film has received near-universal critical praise, currently holding a 93% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and as we've said, it's a strong contender for the Oscars.

"Creed" is projected to make around $42 million in its first five days, a big win for its $37 million budget.

SEE ALSO: Why 'Creed' is a strong contender for this year's Oscar race

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Every year, millions of viewers count the "A Charlie Brown Christmas" special as part of their holiday tradition – a far cry from what its creators believed after watching the finished product 50 years ago.

"We thought we had ruined Charlie Brown," said the special's executive producer Lee Mendelson in a taped interview.

On Monday, ABC will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the popular "Peanuts" animation with a special at 8 p.m. and an airing of the program at 9 p.m. It's such a big deal, the US postal service issued a line of stamps for the anniversary.

But in 1965, Mendelson and then CBS (which owned the rights to the special) programming executive Fred Silverman believed they had made a terrible show and that it would air one night and they'd be done with it.

"We didn't think it worked," Mendelson explained. "We thought it was too slow. We didn't know what the network was going to think. And I took it back to New York and the network really didn't like it."

It was the first broadcast special to be made from the popular "Peanuts" comic strip. "Peanuts" creator Charles Schultz had just days to write it and with just six months to produce it, Mendelson was creating things out of thin air. Children without any acting experience voiced most of the characters, and Snoopy's utterings were actually provided by the director, Bill Melendez.

Silverman said of the network's take: "The general reaction was one of disappointment, that it didn't really translate as well as we thought it would."

But the special was already in the TV listings, so they had to air it. "[The network said,] 'Nice try. We'll put it on once and that will be it,'" Mendelson recalled.

To everyone's surprise, the show aired on December 9, 1965, and it was a hit. It earned a 49 audience share, which meant pretty much half of American households with TVs watched "A Charlie Brown Christmas." It was the second-most watched show that week, behind the very popular western series "Bonanza." And it ended up winning an Emmy for Outstanding Children's Program the next year and a Peabody Award.

 It has since aired every year since that first broadcast.

"I think we are all as overwhelmed today as were back then and that it keeps going on and keeps going on," Mendelson said.

Watch the interviews below:

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M.I.A. takes on the global refugee crisis with a self-directed video for her recently released single, "Borders."

The new video features M.I.A. joining refugees as they climb barbed-wire fences, wade in the water, and cram together on small boats. 

At one point, bodies on the fence spell out "life." 

Lyrics in the chorus ask some pointed questions, though she never repeats the same one twice. Some include: "Borders, what's up with that? Identities, what's up with that? Your privilege, what's up with that? Freedom, what's up with that?"

The song will appear on M.I.A.'s fifth album, "Matahdatah." No release date has been announced yet.

M.I.A tweeted a link to the video this morning, along with a dedication to her Uncle Bala, who she said was "one of the first Tamil migrant [sic] to come to the UK in the 60s." 

https://t.co/V3QVxPuQ6g. pic.twitter.com/WBy1o7Gltr

— M.I.A (@MIAuniverse) November 27, 2015

Watch the full music video on Apple Music below:

SEE ALSO: Europe's refugee crisis could push EU countries out of the passport-free Schengen Zone

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Africa’s largest media company, Nasper’s, has plans to expand its new video streaming service to North America, Europe, and Asia, according to Bloomberg.

The service, called “Showmax,” is a Netflix competitor that will offer not only content from the likes of CBS, the BBC, and Time Warner, but also content produced on the African continent.

The $65 billion South African company hopes to attract 15 million subscribers outside of Africa, partially by leveraging a deal with Samsung to include Nasper’s service in its smart TVs, Bloomberg reports. In comparison, Netflix currently has over 60 million subscribers worldwide, and Hulu hit 9 million paid subscribers earlier this year. Amazon bundles its streaming video service with other items in Amazon Prime, which might have 60-80 million subscribers globally according to analysts at RBC Capital Markets.

Nasper’s bet seems to be that worldwide subscribers will pay a premium for African content overlooked by other streaming services. That is the differentiator. The African diaspora numbers around 30 million worldwide, according to Quartz, and could be a source of customers who feel their needs aren’t being met by companies like Netflix and Hulu.

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The more famous Jennifer Lawrence becomes, the tighter she keeps her core friend group.

Lawrence was recently named 2015 Entertainer of the Year by Entertainment Weekly.

In an interview with EW, she talked about the importance of keeping a small circle of "real" friends. 

“None of my friends bulls**t me,” Lawrence said. “Everything in my life has to be real.”

Gaining her trust isn't easy.

"I have a very small circle," she said. "The moment I feel like someone is using me or is in it for the wrong reasons, I have zero guilt about just cutting them the f**k out of my life."

This small yet enviable group includes others in the entertainment industry working at the top of their field, whether acting, comedy, or music.

Here is a rundown of Jennifer Lawrence's "squad," as Instagram would have it.

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Amy Schumer recently became one of Lawrence's best friends and a close collaborator.

Schumer and Lawrence danced together onstage at a Billy Joel concert. The two are now writing a movie together.

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Schumer had a huge year in 2015. She wrote and starred in the hit "Trainwreck," which grossed $139.3 million worldwide. In September, she signed an $8 million book deal.

Source: Box Office Mojo; The New York Times