title: And Just Like That...

text: Set 11 years after the events of the 2010 film "Sex and the City 2", From their friendship in their 30s to a more complicated reality of life and friendship in their 50s, the women of "Sex and the City" make this transition.


title: And Just Like That...

text: In December 2016, "Radar Online" reported that a script for a third "Sex and the City" film had been approved. However, on September 28, 2017, Sarah Jessica Parker confirmed that the third film was not going to happen. She said, "We had this beautiful, funny, heartbreaking,


title: And Just Like That...

text: joyful, very relatable script and story. It's not just disappointing that we don't get to tell the story and have that experience, but more so for that audience that has been so vocal in wanting another movie." It was reported in 2018 that Kim Cattrall did not want to return as Samantha Jones in the film due to disagreeing with its planned storylines, involving killing off Mr. Big and Samantha receiving sexting and nude pictures from Miranda's 14-year-old son, Brady. Cattrall later clarified in 2019 that she opted not to appear in a third film, explaining she "went past the finish line" portraying the character of Samantha because of her love for the franchise.


title: And Just Like That...

text: In December 2020, it was reported that the proposed third film's script had been redeveloped as a miniseries revival of the original "Sex and the City" television series in development at HBO Max, without Cattrall returning as Samantha, in line with her previous comments. In January 2021, "And Just Like That..." was confirmed by HBO Max as a series which would consist of 10 episodes. In February 2021, Samantha Irby, Rachna Fruchbom, Keli Goff, Julie Rottenberg and Elisa Zuritsky joined the series as part of the writing team. Rotternberg and Zuritsky also serve as executive producers. It was also confirmed that long-time series costume designer and collaborator Patricia Field would not be returning to work on the revival. However, she recommended her friend and colleague Molly Rogers to the creative team for consultation. On March 22, 2022, HBO Max renewed the series for a second season.


title: And Just Like That...

text: Upon the series order announcement, Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon, and Kristin Davis were reprising their roles as close friends living in New York City. In May 2021, Sara Ramírez was cast as a series regular, while Chris Noth was cast to reprise his role in an undisclosed capacity. On June 9, 2021, Mario Cantone, Willie Garson, David Eigenberg, and Evan Handler all joined the cast to reprise their respective roles in undisclosed capacities. In July 2021, Sarita Choudhury, Nicole Ari Parker, Karen Pittman, and Isaac Cole Powell joined the cast in starring roles while Alexa Swinton, Cree Cicchino, Niall Cunningham, and Cathy Ang were cast in undisclosed capacities and Brenda Vaccaro and Ivan Hernandez were cast in recurring roles. In August 2021, Julie Halston was cast to reprise her role in a guest-starring capacity while Christopher Jackson and LeRoy McClain were cast in recurring roles. Willie Garson, who played Stanford Blatch throughout "Sex And The City" and reprised his role in the new series, died on September 21, only three months after his return, after filming his scenes for the series' first three episodes. The new series explained his absence via a letter to Carrie in episode four. On November 8, 2021, Bobby Lee announced on an Instagram post that he has a small role in the revival.


title: And Just Like That...

text: Despite Mr. Big dying in the first episode, Noth was set to appear as Big in a fantasy sequence in the season finale, but he was edited out after sexual assault allegations were brought against him.


title: And Just Like That...

text: On August 19, 2022, John Corbett was cast to reprise his role as Aidan Shaw in a recurring capacity for the second season. On October 18, 2022, Tony Danza joined the cast in a recurring role as Che's father.


title: And Just Like That...

text: Production began in June 2021 in New York City. The first table read was held on June 11, 2021, at the show's studio in Manhattan. Filming had commenced on location in New York City by July 9, 2021, and was commemorated by the release of a promotional photo of Parker, Nixon and Davis on the streets of Manhattan. To mislead speculation about a major plot line, Noth arrived on location the day his character's funeral was filmed. On October 11, 2021, it was reported that filming had taken place on location in Paris, France. Filming concluded on December 6, 2021.


title: And Just Like That...

text: The series premiered on December 9, 2021, with the first two episodes available immediately and the rest debuting on a weekly basis until the season finale on February 3, 2022.


title: And Just Like That...

text: Despite HBO Max not revealing subscriber viewership for its original programming, "And Just Like That..." was announced to have delivered the service's most-watched series debut to date, including both HBO and HBO Max originals premiered on the service. The series placed within the service's top 10 most-watched premieres including film debuts. The series was the most-watched first viewing in the service's history, implying that new subscribers enlisted to watch the series.


title: And Just Like That...

text: The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 48% approval rating with an average rating of 5.5/10 based on 79 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, ""And Just Like That..." fails to recapture "Sex and the City"s heady fizz, but like a fine wine, these characters have developed subtler depths with age." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 55 out of 100 based on 33 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". "The New York Times" review, while stating that the show "in moments is very good," described it as "painful" and "part dramedy about heartbreak, part awkward bid at relevance," writing "when you are [reviving] a series there is the fatal danger of losing your touch. And there you have 'And Just Like That'."


title: And Just Like That...

text: The themes of diversity and social justice were criticized. "The Telegraph" described it as "tediously woke", and the "Radio Times" wrote: "The main three's newfound social and cultural awareness is shoe-horned in to such a degree the whole endeavour feels often cloying.'" "Deadline Hollywood" wrote that "far too many 2021 cultural touchstones and new characters are awkwardly parachuted into [the show] ... as if to check a box". EmpireOnline added: "the attempts to paint a rich, real, diverse world are ham-fisted, inauthentic and riddled with self-consciousness, awkwardness and moments of self-congratulation." Specifically, the character of Che Díaz was derided heavily online and has been considered to be one of the worst characters in television history. Kristin Corry of Vice Media criticized the tokenization of Black characters, writing "The 'Sex and the City' reboot wants to undo its colorblind legacy by including Black characters. Unfortunately, they're treated as luxury accessories."


title: And Just Like That...

text: After the episode in which Chris Noth's character dies following a Peloton bike workout, the stock for the company dropped significantly. The company issued a statement through Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum, a cardiologist and member of the company's health and wellness advisory, saying that they agreed to the product placement but were not aware of how it would be used in the pivotal scene. The statement also said not to blame the company for the character's death, and cited some contributing factors, such as his lifestyle (e.g., his consumption of steaks and cigars) and a cardiac surgery in a previous season. Three days after the episode aired, the company released an ad, featuring Chris Noth and narrated by Ryan Reynolds, with Reynolds quickly citing the benefits of cycling and ending with "He's alive." Four days later, the ad was removed after sexual assault allegations were reported against Chris Noth.


title: And Just Like That...

text: The series was given the Seal of Authentic Representation from the Ruderman Family Foundation for the portrayal of Steve Brady by David Eigenberg, and Chloe by Ali Stroker, as actors with disabilities and at least five lines of dialogue. The series was recognized with The ReFrame Stamp for hiring people of underrepresented gender identities, and of color.


title: And Just Like That...

text: A documentary that serves as a behind-the-scenes look of the series titled as "And Just Like That... The Documentary" was released on February 3, 2022.


title: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (film)

text: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer is a 2006 period psychological thriller film directed by Tom Tykwer and starring Ben Whishaw, Alan Rickman, Rachel Hurd-Wood, and Dustin Hoffman. Tykwer, with and Reinhold Heil, also composed the music. The screenplay, by Tykwer, Andrew Birkin and Bernd Eichinger, is based on Patrick Süskind's 1985 novel of the same name. Set in 18th-century France, the film tells the story of Jean-Baptiste Grenouille (Whishaw), an olfactory genius, and his homicidal quest for the perfect scent.


title: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (film)

text: Producer Eichinger bought the film rights to Süskind's novel in 2000 and began writing the screenplay together with Birkin. Tykwer was selected as the director and joined the two in developing the screenplay in 2003. Principal photography began on July 12, 2005 and concluded on October 16, 2005; filming took place in Spain, Germany, and France. The film was made on a budget of €50 million (est. $60 million), making it one of the most expensive German films.


title: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (film)

text: "Perfume" was released on September 14, 2006 in Germany, December 26, 2006 in the United Kingdom, and December 27, 2006 in the United States. It grossed over $135 million worldwide, of which over $53 million was made in Germany. Critics' reviews of the film were mixed; the consensus was that the film had strong cinematography and acting but suffered from an uneven screenplay.


title: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (film)

text: The film begins with the sentencing of Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, a notorious murderer. Between the reading of the sentence and the execution, the story of his life is told in flashback, beginning with his abandonment at birth in a French fish market. Raised in an orphanage, Grenouille grows into a strangely detached boy with a superhuman sense of smell. After growing to maturity as a tanner's apprentice, he makes his first delivery to Paris, where he revels in all the new scents. He focuses on a redheaded girl selling yellow plums, following her and repeatedly attempting to sniff her, but startles her with his behavior. To prevent her from crying out, he covers the girl's mouth and unintentionally suffocates her. After realizing that she is dead, he strips her body naked and smells her all over, becoming distraught when her scent fades. Afterwards, Grenouille is haunted by the desire to recreate the girl's aroma.


title: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (film)

text: After making a delivery to a perfume shop, Grenouille amazes the Italian owner, Giuseppe Baldini, with his ability to identify and create fragrances. He revitalizes the perfumer's career with new formulas, demanding only that Baldini teach him how to preserve scents. Baldini explains that all perfumes are harmonies of twelve individual scents, and may contain a theoretical thirteenth scent. Grenouille continues working for Baldini but is saddened when he learns that Baldini's method of distillation will not capture the scents of all objects. Baldini informs Grenouille of another method that can be learned in Grasse and agrees to help him by providing the journeyman papers he requires in exchange for 100 new perfume formulas. Right after Grenouille departs, Baldini dies when the shaky building, along with his studio, collapses. En route to Grasse, Grenouille decides to exile himself from society, taking refuge in a cave. During this time, he discovers that he lacks any personal scent himself, and believes this is why he is perceived as strange or disturbing by others. Deciding to continue his quest, he leaves his cave and continues to Grasse.


title: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (film)

text: Upon arrival in Grasse, Grenouille catches the scent of Laure Richis, the beautiful, redheaded daughter of the wealthy Antoine Richis and decides that she will be his "thirteenth scent", the linchpin of his perfume. Grenouille finds a job in Grasse under Madame Arnulfi and learns the method of enfleurage. He kills a young lavender picker and attempts to extract her scent using the method of hot enfleurage, which fails. After this, he attempts the method of cold enfleurage on a prostitute he hired, but she becomes alarmed and tries to throw him out. He murders her and successfully preserves the scent of the woman. Grenouille embarks on a killing spree, targeting beautiful young women and capturing their scents using his perfected method. He dumps the women's naked corpses around the city, creating panic. After preserving the first twelve scents, Grenouille plans his attack on Laure. In church, after the Bishop of Grasse declares that the murderer has been excommunicated, it is announced that a man has confessed to the murders. Richis remains unconvinced and secretly flees the city with his daughter, telling no one their destination. Grenouille tracks her scent to a roadside inn and sneaks into her room that night, murdering her.


title: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (film)

text: Soldiers capture Grenouille moments after he finishes preparing his perfume. On the day of his execution, he applies the perfume on himself, forcing the jailers to release him. The executioner and the crowd in attendance are speechless at the beauty of the perfume; they declare Grenouille innocent before falling into a massive orgy. Richis, still convinced of Grenouille's guilt, threatens him with his sword, but he is then overwhelmed by the scent and embraces Grenouille as his "son." Walking out of Grasse unscathed, Grenouille has enough perfume to rule the world, but has discovered that it will not allow him to love or be loved like a normal person. Disenchanted by his aimless quest, he returns to the Parisian fish market where he was abandoned as a child and pours the remaining perfume over his head. Overcome by the scent and in the belief that Grenouille is an angel, the nearby crowd devours him. The next morning, all that is left are his clothes and the empty bottle, from which one final drop of perfume falls.


title: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (film)

text: "Perfume: The Story of a Murderer" is based on the 1985 novel by Patrick Süskind, which has sold over 20 million copies worldwide. Süskind reportedly thought that only Stanley Kubrick and Miloš Forman could do the book justice and refused to let anyone else adapt it to film. Bernd Eichinger, the film's producer, read the novel when it was first released and immediately approached Süskind, who was also a friend of his, to obtain the film rights — Süskind refused. In 2000, Süskind relented and sold Eichinger the rights. Eichinger had to take out a personal loan because the supervisory board of Constantin Film refused to approve the selling price. He is rumored to have paid €10 million for the film rights. The author had no involvement in the project. Artist/director Julian Schnabel wanted to direct a film version of the novel and wrote a script based on the novel. However, Eichinger, who owned the rights to the novel at the time, disliked Schnabel's stream of consciousness-driven narrative of the story and that project was never materialized. Schnabel eventually transferred his unique approach of his "Perfume" script into his 2007 film, "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly".


title: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (film)

text: Eichinger and screenwriter Andrew Birkin began to write a draft script. Eichinger says that their biggest problem was a narrative one, "The main character doesn't express himself. A novelist can use narrative to compensate for this; that's not possible in film. An audience can usually only get a feeling for a character if the character speaks", said Eichinger. Eichinger said, "With material like this it is especially important for a director to get involved in the script." Eichinger met with a number of directors but felt that only Tom Tykwer was really in tune with the material. In 2003, Tykwer was invited to join Eichinger and Birkin in adapting the novel. The screenplay went through over 20 revisions to get to the final shooting script. The three writers worked hard to create a faithful adaptation that captured the atmosphere and climate of the novel, yet, at the same time, have a specific and individual perspective, in terms of the story and the main character.


title: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (film)

text: The film had a production budget of €50 million (US$63.7 million), making it one of the most expensive German film productions. The film was financed by Constantin Film, of which Eichinger was the former CEO; billionaire Gisela Oeri and VIP Medienfonds. "Perfume" is Oeri's first investment into a film and she also served as a co-producer. The film received €200,000 in funding from the German Federal Film Board (FFA)'s German–French Agreement fund. Eurimages also granted the film €600,000 in co-production funding. The film received €400,000 in funding from the German Federal Film Board. The film received production funding of €1.6 million from FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, €1 million from the German Federal Film Board and €750,000 from Filmstiftung NRW. The film received distribution funding of €205,000 from FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, €180,000 from the German Federal Film Board and €150,000 from the Bavarian Bank Fund.


title: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (film)

text: Andreas Schmid, CEO of VIP Medienfonds ('Medienfonds' is a German term for a type of closed investment fund) and one of the film's executive producers, was arrested in October 2005 on suspicion of fraud and tax evasion. The resulting investigation revealed some irregularities in the financing of "Perfume", suggesting that some investors may have invested in the film as a vehicle for tax evasion (to acquire tax losses). According to documents Schmid filed to tax authorities, VIP invested €25 million into the film. But according to Constantin Film's ledgers, VIP only put up €4.1 million. The remainder of the €25 million was banked to collect interest, secure bank guarantees and used to pay back investors their share of the film's revenue. As VIP claimed the whole €25 million was used to produce the film, its investors were also able to write off their entire contribution against tax. "Perfume" also received €700,000 in state subsidies from Filmstiftung NRW based on the €4.1 million figure. In November 2007, Schmid was found guilty of multiple counts of tax evasion and sentenced to six years in prison. He had already served more than two years in jail since his arrest.


title: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (film)

text: Filming was originally planned to begin in the third quarter of 2004 but the filmmakers had trouble finding the right actor to play the protagonist Grenouille. The search to find an actor to play Grenouille took nearly a year. On casting agent Michelle Guish's advice, Tykwer went to see Ben Whishaw perform as Hamlet in Trevor Nunn's production of the play. Tykwer immediately felt that he had found the actor for the role. An audition followed which convinced Eichinger of Whishaw's potential as well. Eichinger described Whishaw as embodying both "the innocent angel and the murderer." Regarding his search to find an actor, Tykwer said "it only really seemed plausible to choose someone for this role who was completely unknown. You could also say a 'nobody' who is to become a 'somebody' - because that's what the story is about too."


title: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (film)

text: When it came to casting the role of Baldini, the washed-up perfumer who first teaches Grenouille how to capture smells and create perfume, Tykwer immediately thought of Dustin Hoffman. "When I took on this project I knew straight away that there was no one who could play Baldini better," said Tykwer. Hoffman had wanted to work with Tykwer since he saw "Run Lola Run" and Tykwer had always wanted to get Hoffman for a part. Hoffman and Whishaw had a week of rehearsal and a crash course in perfume-making prior to the start of principal photography. The scenes between the two actors were shot in sequence, allowing them to follow the natural progression of their characters' relationship.


title: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (film)

text: Alan Rickman was Tykwer's first choice to play Richis and the role was not offered to anyone else. Tykwer and Eichinger looked through hundreds of audition tapes to find the right actress for the role of Richis' daughter Laure. Tykwer believed he had found the right actress on a tape with 15 actresses but couldn't remember exactly which was the one he liked. Eichinger looked through the tape and found what he thought was a suitable person. It turned out that both men had chosen the same actress, Rachel Hurd-Wood. Tykwer went to London to cast her personally. A new tape was recorded and she was given the role. A suitable actress could not be found for the role of the plum girl in England and the United States so Tykwer decided to look at actresses in Germany. Karoline Herfurth, who had twice worked with Tykwer, was asked to do a screen test with Whishaw, in costume. Herfurth proved herself to Tykwer and her role was expanded.


title: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (film)

text: A total of 5,200 extras were used for the film, sometimes with nearly a thousand at once. The orgy scene at the film's climax required 750 extras. 50 key players from the dance theater group La Fura dels Baus and 100 relatively experienced talents formed the core of the crowd. The remaining 600 extras were arranged around this group of 150 performers.


title: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (film)

text: To help define the film's look the crew watched period films such as "Sleepy Hollow", "Amadeus", "Oliver Twist", "Barry Lyndon", "From Hell", "The Elephant Man", "Dracula", "Brotherhood of the Wolf", "Vidocq", and "Les Misérables". Cinematographer Frank Griebe said that of all the films they watched that had been shot on location, none of them really had the dirt and grit of the city that they desired for "Perfume". "We needed a filthy city to get the real feel for the smells of it", said Griebe. Tykwer wanted to recreate 18th-century Paris, as seen through the eyes of the lower-class Grenouille and said that he wanted to shoot the film "as if we were thrown into a time machine with a camera."


title: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (film)

text: Tykwer describes the film as having "a distinctly dark aesthetic", due to both the lack of adequate lighting during the film's time period and the nature of its storyline. The filmmakers took inspiration from painters that specialized in darkness with few sources of light such as Caravaggio, Joseph Wright of Derby and Rembrandt. The film begins with a cool, monochromatic color palette, and as Grenouille discovers more scents, the palette warms and opens up. In the scenes where Grenouille goes to Paris for the first time, the filmmakers subtly added more powerful colors in the sets, costumes, props and lighting to represent Grenouille's experience of the new smells.


title: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (film)

text: One of the main challenges of making the film was to convey the smells and the world of scents that Grenouille experiences. Tykwer said that to him "Perfume" "was much more a film about the importance of smell in our life than a film that tries to be smelly." The filmmakers strived to convey smell visually without the use of colors or special effects, Griebe says "people see the fish market full of raw, bloody fish, and they know it stinks; they see a field of lavender and know it smells wonderful. We show Grenouille taking in smells by cupping his nose, and by doing close shots of his nose, and that's it!"


title: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (film)

text: Pierre-Yves Gayraud, the film's costume designer, spent fifteen weeks researching 18th century fashion. Production of over 1,400 costumes, in addition to the preparation of shoes, hats and other accessories were completed within three months by workshops in and around Bucharest in Romania. The costume department had to make the clothing look worn and dirty. Additionally, the actors were required to wear the costumes and more or less live in them prior to shooting. The character Grenouille was not given any white clothing and wore bluish over-garments throughout most of the film because the filmmakers wanted to depict him as a shadow and a chameleon. Instead of dressing the character of Laure in the colorful regional dress that was the tradition of the time, she was dressed in the less vivid tones of a Parisian damsel to highlight her social aspirations as well as her red hair.


title: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (film)

text: Although the filmmakers needed an 18th-century French setting, shooting the film in its original setting of Paris was unlikely due to the extensive modernization of the city in the 19th century. Croatia was initially considered as an alternative because of its earthy scenery and pristine old-world towns, but even though the price was right, the distance between locations proved to be disadvantageous. In the end, the filmmakers opted to shoot most of the film in Catalonia, Spain which, although more expensive than Croatia, offered locations which were closer to each other.


title: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (film)

text: Principal photography began on July 12, 2005 at Rolling Thunder Skate Park. and concluded on October 16, 2005. The first fifteen days was spent entirely on the largest stage of Bavaria Film Studios in Munich, shooting the scenes between Baldini and Grenouille in the former's workshop. All of the scenes with Hoffman were completed within the first eleven days. Most of the remaining scenes were shot in Catalonia, Spain, specifically in Barcelona, Girona and Figueres. The streets of Barcelona stood in for those of Paris. El Barri Gòtic (the Gothic Quarter), part of Barcelona's historic town center, was converted into a Parisian fish market. Poble Espanyol, an open-air museum in Barcelona, was the location for the climactic orgy scene. To create an authentic dirty look, the film's crew included a "dirt unit" of about 60 people whose job was to distribute detritus over the city. Two and a half tons of fish and one ton of meat was dispersed in El Gòtic. Several mountain and forest scenes were shot in the environs of Girona. The city also provided the location of the home and studio of Madame Arnulfi. Sant Ferran Castle in Figueres provided the location for the tannery, the Paris city gates and the dungeon in which Grenouille is imprisoned. The cave in which Grenouille discovers he has no scent was also located in Figueres. Some landscape shots, including those used as Grasse's lavender fields, were filmed in Provence, France in late June 2005, before principal photography started.


title: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (film)

text: The cinematographer for "Perfume" was Frank Griebe, with whom Tykwer has worked on all of his films. The film was shot on Arri cameras and lenses. For sequences which required the camera to be extremely close to its subject, Griebe used the Kenworthy/Nettman Snorkel Lens System. Griebe shot the film on 3-perf Super 35 film using three Kodak Vision2 film stocks — 500T 5218, 200T 5217 and 100T 5212. 5218 was used for all the night scenes and the choice between the other two were determined by weather conditions — 5212 when it was very sunny and 5217 whenever it was overcast. Tykwer and Griebe originally discussed shooting "Perfume" in the traditional Academy 1.33:1 aspect ratio, but they decided against it because of the difficulty of theatrical exhibition. "We felt 1.33:1 was perfect for many aspects of this story, but today you can't release a 1.33 film in theaters," said Griebe.


title: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (film)

text: Post-production took place in Munich and required nine months to complete, concluding in the third quarter of 2006. Film editor Alex Berner was present at all the shooting locations and was on set with Tykwer. Berner also cut dailies as filming progressed which, according to Tykwer, saved a lot of time later. Tykwer said they had to work this way due to the film's tight schedule (the European release dates had already been locked). On every night of filming, Tykwer and Griebe would take screenshots from the dailies and make notes for the film laboratory on what sort of tone and palette they wanted, and the level of brightness and contrast they wanted for the prints. A digital intermediate was used for the film. About three months was spent grading the film. Digital grading tools were used to improve the color of the lavender fields because the film crew had arrived a week early and the flowers were not in full bloom. In the scene where Grenouille murders the plum girl, selective coloring was used to take the tone of the dead body's flesh from its natural color to a pale white color.


title: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (film)

text: Visual effects work, of which there were about 250 shots, was carried out by Universal Production Partners in Prague. Much of the visual effects work for the film consisted of minor CGI corrections, such as wire removals; and a lot of crowd manipulation and set extensions. Scale models were used to create the shots of the Seine river bridge with houses on it.


title: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (film)

text: As with all of Tykwer's films since 1997's "Winter Sleepers", the musical score for "Perfume" was composed by Tykwer and two of his friends Johnny Klimek and Reinhold Heil. The score was performed by the Berlin Philharmonic and State choir "Latvija" under the direction of conductor Simon Rattle. Tykwer began composing the score with Klimek and Heil the very day he started working on the screenplay. Tykwer said, "I feel like I understand very much about the structure and the motivations of the characters when I'm writing the script, but I really do understand the atmosphere and the emotional and the more abstract part of the film when I'm investigating the music, and when I'm planning the music for it. ... When I then come to the shooting, having worked for three years on the music and three years on the script, I really feel like I know exactly the two worlds and how to combine them." By the time it came to shooting the film, a substantial portion of music had been composed. Tykwer hired a small orchestra and recorded them performing the score. Tykwer played the recorded music on set so people could explore the atmosphere and the acoustic world of the film while they were acting in it. The music was also used instead of temp music during editing.


title: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (film)

text: To coincide with the film's release, clothing and fragrance company Thierry Mugler released a fifteen-piece perfume coffret. The perfumes were a collaboration between Thierry Mugler's Vera Struebi and Pierre Aulas and International Flavors & Fragrances' Christophe Laudamiel and Christoph Hornetz. Laudamiel read the novel in 1994 and began recreating odors from it in 2000; Hornetz joined the project in 2002. 14 of the fragrances were inspired by the novel and film, the 15th works as a fragrance enhancer but can also be worn on its own. Smells represented by the perfumes include Paris in 1738, a virgin's navel, a clean baby and leather. The coffret was released as a limited edition of 1,300 sets which sold for US$700 each; all 1,300 sets were sold.


title: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (film)

text: The film was a financial success, especially in Europe, earning $135,039,943 worldwide. It opened in Germany on September 14, 2006 and was number one on the box office charts in its first three weeks. The film made $9.7 million in its opening weekend and an estimated 1.04 million people saw the film in its first four days of release in Germany. The film ended up selling over five million tickets and grossed $53,125,663, the highest German gross for a dramatic film. The film's strong performance in Germany was attributed in part to a large marketing campaign and numerous premieres throughout the country.


title: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (film)

text: By comparison, the film performed poorly in North America. The film had a three-theater limited release on December 27, 2006 before being expanded to 280 theaters on January 5, 2007. The film completed its theatrical run in North America on March 1, 2007, taking in a modest $2,223,293 overall. Roger Ebert attributes its poor US box office performance to the film "getting lost in the Christmas rush."


title: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (film)

text: The film was released on DVD (in three configurations) and HD DVD in Germany by Highlight on March 15, 2007. The standard edition DVD and the HD DVD contain the film and three audio commentary tracks — one by Tykwer, one by production designer Uli Hanisch and his assistant Kai Karla Koch, and one by Griebe and editor Alexander Berner. The two-disc special edition DVD's extra features include the same audio commentary tracks as on the standard edition, a making-of, interviews with the cast and crew, and six featurettes. The DVD was also released in a numbered, limited edition "Fascination of Smell" configuration which came in a wooden box containing five small bottles of the Thierry Mugler perfumes in addition to the same material as the special edition DVD. Only 7,777 units were available and it was sold exclusively by Müller. A Blu-ray Disc version of the film, which contained the same extra features as the special edition DVD, was released on November 8, 2007. The DVD sold 300,000 units in its first 14 days of release in Germany and sold 600,000 units by May 22, 2007. As of May 15, 2009, 1.15 million DVD and Blu-ray units of the film have been sold in the country. In the United States, 387,520 DVD units have been sold as of the latest figures, translating to $7,547,755 in revenue.


title: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (film)

text: , on Rotten Tomatoes, the film had a 59% approval rating based on 129 reviews with an average rating of 6.2/10. The website's critics consensus reads: ""Perfume" is what you'd expect from a Tom Twyker-directed movie glamorizing a serial killer: a kinetic visual feast, with a dark antihero that's impossible to feel sympathy for." On Metacritic, the film had a weighted average score of 56 out of 100 based on reviews from 30 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".


title: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (film)

text: "The Hollywood Reporter"s Bernard Besserglik described the film as a "visually lush, fast-moving story", stating that the director "has a sure sense of spectacle and, despite its faults, the movie maintains its queasy grip". Dan Jolin of "Empire" gave the film four out of five stars and said "The odd conclusion renders it somewhat oblique, but "Perfume" is a feast for the senses. Smell it with your eyes..." A. O. Scott of "The New York Times" gave the film a negative review, saying "Try as it might to be refined and provocative, "Perfume: The Story of a Murderer" never rises above the pedestrian creepiness of its conceit." Scott also said that Whishaw "does not quite manage to make Grenouille either a victim worthy of pity or a fascinating monster. [...] In the film he comes across as dull, dour and repellent."


title: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (film)

text: James Berardinelli of Reelviews.net gave the film two and a half out of four stars, saying "There's a mesmerizing appeal to the director's in-your-face style, even if the images he displays are often repugnant. Unfortunately, Tykwer is working with a flawed screenplay and even the most arresting visuals cannot compensate for the movie's schizophrenic story." Roger Ebert was very enthusiastic giving the film four out of four stars and wrote "It took imagination to tell it, courage to film it, thought to act it, and from the audience it requires a brave curiosity about the peculiarity of obsession." Ebert included it on his list of best films of the year, and named "Perfume" as "the most underappreciated movie of the year".


title: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (film)

text: Boyd van Hoeij of European-Films.net said "Tykwer's sane decision to prefer traditional craftsmanship over computer-generated imagery and a highly intelligent screenplay that hews very close to the spirit of the novel put "Perfume" way ahead of its competitors." Van Hoeij later named "Perfume: The Story of a Murderer" one of the ten best films of 2006. "Variety"s Derek Elley said the film was an "extremely faithful" adaptation, but felt the film was slightly too long and "more liberties should have been taken to make the novel work on the screen".


title: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (film)

text: Reviews of the cast were mixed. Whishaw's performance was praised by many critics. Boyd van Hoeij said Whishaw was "a revelation in a very difficult role that is mostly mute and certainly ugly." The "San Francisco Chronicle"s Mick LaSalle said "Whishaw succeeds in making the repulsive protagonist thoroughly repulsive, which is probably a testimony to his acting ability." The casting of Dustin Hoffman as Baldini was criticized by several critics. The "Los Angeles Times"' Carina Chocano called his performance "disconcertingly kitsch and over the top". Conversely, Rickman's performance as Richis was well received.


title: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (film)

text: "Perfume: The Story of a Murderer" was nominated for five Saturn Awards at the 33rd Saturn Awards — Best Action/Adventure/Thriller Film, Best Director (Tykwer), Best Writing (Birkin, Eichinger, Tykwer), Best Supporting Actress (Hurd-Wood), and Best Music (Tykwer, Klimek, Heil). At the 2007 European Film Awards, Frank Griebe won the award for Best Cinematographer and Uli Hanisch won the European Film Academy Prix d'Excellence for his production design work. The film also received nominations in the People's Choice Award, Best Actor (Ben Whishaw) and Best Composer (Tykwer, Klimek, Heil) categories. At the 2007 Germany Film Awards, the film won the Silver Best Feature Film award and the awards for Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Editing, Best Production Design and Best Sound. It also received nominations for Best Direction and Best Film Score. At the 2007 Bavarian Film Awards, Tykwer and Hanisch won awards for Best Director and Best Production Design categories, respectively. Eichinger, Tykwer and Whishaw received the award for their work on "Perfume", which won the 2006 Bambi Award in the Film – National category.


title: Northumberland

text: Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey.


title: Northumberland

text: It is bordered by land on three sides; by the Scottish Borders region to the north, County Durham and Tyne and Wear to the south, and Cumbria to the west. The fourth side is the North Sea, with a stretch of coastline to the east. A predominantly rural county with a landscape of moorland and farmland, a large area is part of Northumberland National Park. The area has been the site of a number of historic battles with Scotland.


title: Northumberland

text: The name of Northumberland is recorded as "norð hẏmbra land" in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, meaning "the land north of the Humber". The name of the kingdom of "Northumbria" derives from the Old English meaning "the people or province north of the Humber", as opposed to the people south of the Humber Estuary.


title: Northumberland

text: The land has long been an English frontier zone, and it is now bordered to the north by Scotland. Northumberland has a rich prehistory with many instances of rock art, hillforts such as Yeavering Bell, and stone circles such as the Goatstones and Duddo Five Stones. Most of the area was occupied by the Brythonic-Celtic Votadini people, with another large tribe, the Brigantes, to the south.


title: Northumberland

text: During Roman occupation of Britain, most of the present county lay north of Hadrian's Wall. It was controlled by Rome only for the brief period of its extension of power north to the Antonine Wall. The Roman road Dere Street crosses the county from Corbridge over high moorland west of the Cheviot Hills to Melrose, Scottish Borders (). As evidence of its border position through medieval times, Northumberland has more castles than any other county in England, including those at Alnwick, Bamburgh, Dunstanburgh, Newcastle and Warkworth.


title: Northumberland

text: Later, the region of present-day Northumberland formed the core of the Anglian kingdom of Bernicia (from about 547), which united with Deira (south of the River Tees) to form the kingdom of Northumbria in the 7th century. The historical boundaries of Northumbria under King Edwin (reigned 616–633) stretched from the Humber in the south to the Forth in the north. After the battle of Nechtansmere its influence north of the Tweed began to decline as the Picts gradually reclaimed the land previously invaded by the Saxon kingdom. In 1018 its northern part, the region between the Tweed and the Forth (including Lothian, which includes present-day Edinburgh), was ceded to the Kingdom of Scotland.


title: Northumberland

text: Northumberland is often called the "cradle of Christianity" in England because Christianity flourished on Lindisfarne—a tidal island north of Bamburgh, also called Holy Island—after King Oswald of Northumbria (reigned 634–642) invited monks from Iona to come to convert the English. The monastery at Lindisfarne was the centre of production of the Lindisfarne Gospels (around 700). It became the home of St Cuthbert (about 634–687, abbot from about 665), who is buried in Durham Cathedral.


title: Northumberland

text: Bamburgh is the historic capital of Northumberland, the royal castle from before the unification of the Kingdoms of England under the monarchs of the House of Wessex in the 10th century.


title: Northumberland

text: The Earldom of Northumberland was briefly held by the Scottish royal family by marriage between 1139–1157 and 1215–1217. Scotland relinquished all claims to the region as part of the Treaty of York (1237). The Earls of Northumberland once wielded significant power in English affairs because, as powerful and militaristic Marcher Lords, they had the task of protecting England from Scottish retaliation for English invasions.


title: Northumberland

text: Northumberland has a history of revolt and rebellion against the government, as seen in the Rising of the North (1569–1570) against Elizabeth I. These revolts were usually led by the Earls of Northumberland, the Percy family. Shakespeare makes one of the Percys, the dashing Harry Hotspur (1364–1403), the hero of his "Henry IV, Part 1". The Percys were often aided in conflict by other powerful Northern families, such as the Nevilles and the Patchetts. The latter were stripped of all power and titles by the victorious Parliamentarians after the English Civil War of 1642–1651.


title: Northumberland

text: After the Restoration of 1660, the county was a centre for Roman Catholicism in England, as well as a focus of Jacobite support. Northumberland was long a wild county, where outlaws and Border Reivers hid from the law. However, the frequent cross-border skirmishes and accompanying local lawlessness largely subsided after the Union of the Crowns of Scotland and England under King James I and VI in 1603.


title: Northumberland

text: Northumberland played a key role in the Industrial Revolution from the 18th century on. Many coal mines operated in Northumberland until the widespread closures in the 1970s and 1980s. Collieries operated at Ashington, Bedlington, Blyth, Choppington, Netherton, Ellington and Pegswood. The region's coalfields fuelled industrial expansion in other areas of Britain, and the need to transport the coal from the collieries to the Tyne led to the development of the first railways. Shipbuilding and armaments manufacture were other important industries before the deindustrialisation of the 1980s.


title: Northumberland

text: Northumberland remains largely rural, and is the least-densely populated county in England. In recent years the county has had considerable growth in tourism. Visitors are attracted both to its scenic beauty and to its historical sites.


title: Northumberland

text: Nearly 2000-year-old Roman boxing gloves were uncovered at Vindolanda in 2017 by the Vindolanda Trust experts, led by Andrew Birley. According to the Guardian, being similar in style and function to the full-hand modern boxing gloves, these two gloves found at Vindolanda look like leather bands dating back to 120 AD. It is suggested that, based on their difference from gladiator gloves, the gloves were not used in mortal combat, but rather in a sport for promoting fighting skills. The gloves are currently displayed at Vindolanda's museum.


title: Northumberland

text: Northumberland has a diverse physical geography. It is low and flat near the North Sea coast and increasingly mountainous towards the northwest. Being in the far north of England, above 55° latitude, and having many areas of high land, Northumberland is one of the coldest areas of the country. But as the county lies on the east coast, it has relatively low rainfall, with the highest amounts falling on the high land in the west.


title: Northumberland

text: About a quarter of the county forms the Northumberland National Park, an area of outstanding landscape that has largely been protected from development and agriculture. The park stretches south from the Scottish border and includes Hadrian's Wall. Most of the park is over above sea level. The Northumberland Coast is also a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). A small part of the North Pennines AONB is also in the county.


title: Northumberland

text: Natural England recognises the following natural regions, or national character areas, that lie wholly or partially within Northumberland:


title: Northumberland

text: The Cheviot Hills, in the northwest of the county, consist mainly of resistant Devonian granite and andesite lava. A second area of igneous rock underlies the Whin Sill (on which Hadrian's Wall runs), an intrusion of Carboniferous dolerite. Both ridges support a rather bare moorland landscape. Either side of the Whin Sill the county lies on Carboniferous Limestone, giving some areas of karst landscape. Lying off the coast of Northumberland are the Farne Islands, another dolerite outcrop, famous for their bird life.


title: Northumberland

text: The Northumberland Coalfield extends across the southeast corner of the county, from the River Tyne as far north as Shilbottle. There were smaller-scale workings for coal within the Tyne Limestone Formation as far north as Scremerston. The term 'sea coal' likely originated from chunks of coal, found washed up on beaches, that wave action had broken from coastal outcroppings.


title: Northumberland

text: There is a variety of nature reserves in Northumberland including Holy Island National Nature Reserve and Farne Islands National Nature Reserve. Moreover, 50% of England's red squirrel population lives in the Kielder Water and Forest Park.


title: Northumberland

text: Northumberland's green belt is in the south of the county, surrounding Cramlington and other communities along the county border, to afford a protection from the Tyneside conurbation. The belt continues west along the border, past Darras Hall, and on to Hexham, stopping before Haydon Bridge. Its border there is shared with the North Pennines AONB. There are also some separated belt areas, for example to the east of Morpeth. The green belt was first drawn up in the 1950s.


title: Northumberland

text: Northumberland's industry is dominated by some multinational corporations: Coca-Cola, MSD, GE and Drager all have significant facilities in the region.


title: Northumberland

text: Tourism is a major source of employment and income in Northumberland. In the early 2000s the county annually received 1.1 million British visitors and 50,000 foreign tourists, who spent a total of £162 million.


title: Northumberland

text: Coal mining in the county goes back to Tudor times. Coal mines continue to operate today; many of them are open-cast mines. Planning approval was given in January 2014 for an open-cast mine at Halton Lea Gate near Lambley.


title: Northumberland

text: Pharmaceutical, healthcare and emerging medical biotechnology companies form a very significant part of the county's economy. Many of these companies are part of the approximately 11,000-worker Northeast of England Process Industry Cluster (NEPIC) and include Aesica Pharmaceuticals, Arcinova, MSD, Piramal Healthcare, Procter & Gamble, Shire Plc (formerly SCM Pharma), Shasun Pharma Solutions, Specials Laboratory, and Thermo Fisher Scientific. The cluster also includes Cambridge Bioresearch, GlaxoSmithKline, Fujifilm Diosynth Biotech, Leica Bio, Data Trial, High Force Research, Non-Linear Dynamics, and Immuno Diagnostic Systems (IDS). The towns of Alnwick, Cramlington, Morpeth, Prudhoe all have significant pharmaceutical factories and laboratories.


title: Northumberland

text: Newcastle University and Northumbria University are the leading academic institutions nearby. The local industry includes commercial or academic activity in pre-clinical research and development, clinical research and development, pilot-scale manufacturing, full-scale active pharmaceutical ingredient/intermediate manufacturing, formulation, packaging, and distribution.


title: Northumberland

text: Ashington has the Alcan Lynemouth Aluminium Smelter, next to the Lynemouth Power Station. Hammerite and Cuprinol are made in Prudhoe by ICI Paints. A Procter & Gamble factory in Seaton Delaval makes Hugo Boss aftershave and Clairol and Nice 'n Easy hair dye at a site formerly owned by Shultons, who originated Old Spice and were bought by P&G in 1990. McQuay UK makes air conditioning systems on the Bassington Industrial Estate at the A1068/A1172 junction in Cramlington, and Avery Dennison UK make labels on the Nelson Industrial Estate off of the A192. Schweppes' Abbey Well mineral water is made by Coca-Cola in the east of Morpeth. The National Renewable Energy Centre (Narec) is at Blyth.


title: Northumberland

text: Northumberland has a completely comprehensive education system, with 15 state schools, two academies and one independent school. Like Bedfordshire, it embraced the comprehensive ideal with the three-tier system of lower/middle/upper schools with large school year sizes (often around 300). This eliminated choice of school in most areas: instead of having two secondary schools in one town, one school became a middle school and another became an upper school. A programme introduced in 2006 known as Putting the Learner First has eliminated this structure in the former areas of Blyth Valley and Wansbeck, where two-tier education has been introduced. Although the two processes are not officially connected, the introduction of two tiers has coincided with the move to build academy schools in Blyth, with Bede Academy and in Ashington at Hirst. One response to these changes has been the decision of Ponteland High School to apply for Trust status.


title: Northumberland

text: Cramlington Learning Village has almost 400 pupils in each school year, making it one of the largest schools in England. The Blyth Academy in southeast Northumberland can hold 1,500 students throughout the building. Astley Community High School in Seaton Delaval, which accepts students from Seaton Delaval, Seaton Sluice and Blyth, has been the subject of controversial remarks from politicians claiming it would no longer be viable once Bede Academy opened in Blyth, a claim strongly disputed by the headteacher. Haydon Bridge High School, in rural Northumberland, is claimed to have the largest catchment area of any school in England, reputedly covering an area larger than that encompassed by the M25 motorway around London.


title: Northumberland

text: The county of Northumberland is served by one Catholic high school, St Benet Biscop Catholic Academy in Bedlington, which is attended by students from all over the area. Students from Northumberland also attend independent schools such as the Royal Grammar School in Newcastle.


title: Northumberland

text: At the 2001 UK Census Northumberland registered a population of 307,190, estimated to be 309,237 in 2003, The 2011 UK Census gave a population of 316,028.


title: Northumberland

text: In 2001, there were 130,780 households, 10% of the population were retired, and one-third rented their homes. Northumberland has an ethnic minority population at 0.985% of the population, far lower compared to the average of 9.1% for England as a whole. In the 2001 UK Census, 81% of the population reported their religion as Christianity, 0.8% as "other religion", and 12% as having no religion.


title: Northumberland

text: Being primarily rural with significant areas of upland, the population density of Northumberland is only 62 persons per square kilometre, giving it the lowest population density in England.


title: Northumberland

text: The historic county town was Alnwick, assizes were mainly held in Newcastle with the county gaol in Morpeth. Newcastle became a city in 1400, with county corporate status, with both areas having joint assizes.


title: Northumberland

text: From the county council's forming in 1889 until 1981, Newcastle was the county town, being the temporary county town of two counties when the city became a part of the Tyne and Wear metropolitan county in 1974. The county council has been governed from Morpeth since 1981. in 2009 the administration restructured into a unitary authority called Northumberland Council. Since 2019, North of Tyne Combined Authority and its elected mayor recreated Newcastle's overall governance of the historic county area; North Tyneside, Newcastle and the Northumberland district.


title: Northumberland

text: Unitary authority of Northumberland Council, reformed in April 2009, had a two-tier council system for the county and its six districts, both responsible for different aspects of local government. These districts were Blyth Valley, Wansbeck, Castle Morpeth, Tynedale, Alnwick and Berwick-upon-Tweed.


title: Northumberland

text: Elections for the, then to be reformed, unitary authority council first took place on 1 May 2008. The latest elections in 2021 returned the following results:


title: Northumberland

text: Northumberland is represented by four UK Parliamentary constituencies: Berwick-upon-Tweed, Blyth Valley, Wansbeck and Hexham. The 2019 General Election produced the following results:


title: Northumberland

text: On 23 June 2016, Northumberland took part in the UK-wide referendum on the UK's membership of the EU. In Northumberland a majority voted to leave the European Union. At Westminster constituency level the only area in Northumberland to vote Remain was Hexham.


title: Northumberland

text: Northumberland has traditions not found elsewhere in England. These include the rapper sword dance, the clog dance and the Northumbrian smallpipe, a sweet chamber instrument, quite unlike the Scottish bagpipe. Northumberland also has its own tartan or check, sometimes referred to in Scotland as the Shepherd's Tartan. Traditional Northumbrian music has more similarity to Lowland Scottish and Irish music than it does to that of other parts of England, reflecting the strong historical links between Northumbria and the Lowlands of Scotland, and the large Irish population on Tyneside.


title: Northumberland

text: The border ballads of the region have been famous since late mediaeval times. Thomas Percy, whose celebrated "Reliques of Ancient English Poetry" appeared in 1765, states that most of the minstrels who sang the border ballads in London and elsewhere in the 15th and 16th centuries belonged to the North. The activities of Sir Walter Scott and others in the 19th century gave the ballads an even wider popularity. William Morris considered them to be the greatest poems in the language, while Algernon Charles Swinburne knew virtually all of them by heart.


title: Northumberland

text: One of the best-known is the stirring "Chevy Chase", which tells of the Earl of Northumberland's vow to hunt for three days across the Border "maugre the doughty Douglas". Of it, the Elizabethan courtier, soldier and poet Sir Philip Sidney famously said, "I never heard the old song of Percy and Douglas that I found not my heart moved more than with a trumpet". Ben Jonson said that he would give all his works to have written "Chevy Chase".


title: Northumberland

text: Overall the culture of Northumberland, as with the North East of England in general, has much more in common with Scottish Lowland culture than with that of Southern England. One reason is that both regions have their cultural origins in the old Anglian Kingdom of Northumbria, a fact borne out by the linguistic links between the two regions. These include many Old English words not found in other forms of Modern English, such as "bairn" for child (see Scots language and Northumbrian dialect).


title: Northumberland

text: Whatever the case, the lands just north or south of the border have long shared certain aspects of history and heritage; it is thus thought by some that the Anglo-Scottish border is largely political rather than cultural.


title: Northumberland

text: Attempts to raise the level of awareness of Northumberland culture have also started, with the formation of a Northumbrian Language Society to preserve the unique dialects (Pitmatic and other Northumbrian dialects) of this region, as well as to promote home-grown talent.


title: Northumberland

text: Northumberland's county flower is the bloody cranesbill ("Geranium sanguineum") and its affiliated Royal Navy ship is its namesake, .


title: Northumberland

text: Northumberland has its own flag, which is a banner of the arms of Northumberland County Council. The shield of arms is in turn based on the arms medieval heralds had attributed to the Kingdom of Bernicia (which the first County Council used until it was granted its own arms). The Bernician arms were fictional but inspired by Bede's brief description of a flag used on the tomb of St Oswald in the 7th century.


title: Northumberland

text: The current arms were granted to the county council in 1951, and adopted as the flag of Northumberland in 1995.


title: Northumberland

text: A precursor of modern football is still seen in the region at some annual Shrove Tuesday games at Alnwick. In 1280 at Ulgham near Morpeth Northumberland, records show that Henry of Ellington was killed playing football when David Le Keu's knife went into Henry's belly and killed him. Organised football teams as we know today did not appear until the 1870s. Newcastle United Football Club was formed in 1892 by uniting Newcastle West End FC with Newcastle East End.


title: Northumberland

text: Newcastle United were first division champions three times in the early 20th century, reaching the FA Cup Final three times before winning it at the fourth attempt in 1910.


title: Northumberland

text: Today top quality professional football remains in Northumberland. In 2017 - 18 season Newcastle United is a Premier League team. St James' Park in Newcastle is a first class football venue, often used for international games at all levels. Blyth Spartans A.F.C. have had success and public attention through Football Association Cup runs.


title: Northumberland

text: There are many notable footballers from the county, pre Second World War and immediate post war greats were George Camsell and Hughie Gallacher, these were described in the "Clown Prince of Football" by Len Shackleton. The author played for Newcastle United and Northumberland County Cricket Club. Shackleton’s book was controversial when it was first published because chapter 9, named "The Average Director's Knowledge of Football", was produced as a blank page. Notable players after the Second World War included Joe Harvey, Jackie Milburn, Brian Clough and Newcastle's Bobby Moncur who led his team to win the Inter City Fairs Cup in 1969.


title: Northumberland

text: Two of Jackie Milburn’s nephews from Ashington, Bobby Charlton and Jackie Charlton are perhaps the two most significant players for England. Bobby joined Manchester United and Jackie Leeds United both contributing much to the success and history of their respective clubs. They both became permanent fixtures in Alf Ramsey's 1966 England World Cup winning team. Malcolm Macdonald was a successful Newcastle player of the 1970s. Great national players who played at Northumberland clubs in the 1980s and 1990s include Peter Beardsley, Paul Gascoigne, Chris Waddle and Alan Shearer. Shearer remains the highest scoring player in Premier League history with 260 goals in 441 appearances.


title: Northumberland

text: Early races were held at Newcastle's Killingworth Moor from 1632 before moving to the Town Moor. The 'Pitmen's Derby' or Northumberland Plate was held from 1833 and moved to Gosforth in 1882. Modern day horse racing still takes place at Newcastle Racecourse.


title: Northumberland

text: Golf is a Scottish import to many countries but it is said to have been played in this region by St Cuthbert on the dunes of the Northumberland coast. The oldest club in Northumberland was at Alnmouth, founded in 1869, it is the fourth oldest in the country and is now Alnmouth Village Club and a 9 hole links course.


title: Northumberland

text: There is one old links courses at Goswick. It is a James Braid design masterpiece which is widely acknowledged as a classic Northumberland links course so much so, that the Royal and Ancient Golf Club (R&A) chose Goswick as a regional qualifier for the Open Championship for five years from 2008.


title: Northumberland

text: During the English Civil War of 1642–1651, King Charles played 'Goff' in the Shield Fields suburb of Pandon during his imprisonment in the town.


title: Northumberland

text: The county has a professional golfer who has played in many professional golf tour events: Kenny Ferrie from Ashington who has won events on the prestigious European Tour.


title: Northumberland

text: The annual Great North Run, one of the best known half marathons in which thousands of participants run from Newcastle to South Shields. In 2013 the 33rd Great North Run had 56,000 participants most of whom were raising money for charity.


title: Northumberland

text: Having no large population centres, the county's mainstream media outlets are served from nearby Tyne and Wear, including radio stations and television channels (such as BBC Look North, BBC Radio Newcastle, Tyne Tees Television and Metro Radio), along with the majority of daily newspapers covering the area ("The Journal", "Evening Chronicle"). It is worth remembering however that although Northumberland, like many administrative areas in England, has been shorn of its geographical regional centre, that centre—Newcastle upon Tyne—remains an essential element within the entity we know as Northumberland. Newcastle's newspapers are as widely read in its Northumbrian hinterland as any of those of the wider county: the "Northumberland Gazette", "Morpeth Herald", "Berwick Advertiser", "Hexham Courant" and the "News Post Leader".


title: Northumberland

text: Lionheart Radio, a community radio station based in Alnwick, has recently been awarded a five-year community broadcasting licence by Ofcom. Radio Borders covers Berwick and the rural north of the county.


title: Northumberland

text: Ashington was the birthplace of three famous footballers: Bobby and Jack Charlton, born in 1937 and 1935 respectively, and Jackie Milburn, born in 1924. In 1978 the international cricketer Steve Harmison was born in the same town.


title: Northumberland

text: Mickley was the birthplace of Thomas Bewick, an artist, wood engraver and naturalist born in 1753, and Bob Stokoe, a footballer and F.A. Cup-winning manager (with Sunderland in 1973) born in 1930.


title: Northumberland

text: NOTE: New parishes have been added since 2001. These are missing from the list, see List of civil parishes in Northumberland.


title: Northumberland

text: Some settlements that is part historic county of Northumberland now fall under the county of Tyne and Wear:


title: Celestial (comics)

text: The Celestials are fictional characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Depicted as cosmic beings, the characters debuted in the Bronze Age of Comic Books and have reappeared on numerous occasions.


title: Celestial (comics)

text: The Celestials also appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe live-action films "Guardians of the Galaxy" (2014), "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" (2017), "Eternals" (2021), and "" (2022).


title: Celestial (comics)

text: The Celestials debuted in "The Eternals" #1 (July 1976) and were created by writer and artist Jack Kirby. They reappeared as regular guest stars in three subsequent limited series sequels: "The Eternals" vol. 2 #1–12 (Oct. 1985–Sept. 1986), "Eternals" vol. 3 #1–7 (Aug. 2006-Feb. 2007), and "Eternals" vol. 4 #1–9 (Aug. 2008–May 2009).


title: Celestial (comics)

text: The characters have also been featured in other titles, including the "Celestial Saga" storyline in "Thor" Annual #7 (1978), "Thor" #283–300 (May 1979–Oct. 1980), "Thor" #387–389 (Jan.–March 1988), "Quasar" #24 (July 1991), "Fantastic Four" #400 (May 1995), "X-Factor" #43–46 (Aug.–Nov. 1989) and #48–50 (Dec. 1989–Jan. 1990). The first detailed account of the Celestials' origin was finally presented in "The Ultimates 2" #6 (2017).


title: Celestial (comics)

text: The origin of the Celestials had long been unknown, with many species across the mainstream Marvel Universe having only legends about their beginning, none of which have been validated, until the so-called "Eternity War", during which major revelations about the origin and nature of the Celestials were revealed by the mysterious cosmic entity called the Queen of Nevers.


title: Celestial (comics)

text: At the beginning of creation itself, countless billions of years ago, before the current Cosmic Order, creation was composed of a single and sentient universe, whose omnipotent intelligence was referred to as the First Firmament. For countless ages, the First Firmament was the sole being in creation, until its loneliness became unbearable. It decided to create the first life in Creation to give it companions as well as servants—an act that it would later come to regret. These servants were cosmic beings of a lesser order of power and were of two kinds: black and multicolored humanoid servants. The black servants dutifully obeyed and worshiped their creator. They even created their own servants and sought to preserve the simple order their creator had made complete and unchanging for all time. The First Firmament named these loyal beings Aspirants and was very pleased by their goals and desire to maintain the status quo of its reign. However, the multicolored ones had completely different values and desires from the Aspirants. Considered "rebels" by the First Firmament, they wanted a dynamic, diverse and continually evolving Reality where beings lived, learned, reproduced, aged and died in order to slowly improve themselves through evolution. The rebels wanted this with the ultimate long-term goal of producing superior cosmic beings with the power to create universes of their own and for the universe to evolve with them as they advanced towards that state. These were the beings whom one day would be called by lesser life forms, "The Celestials".


title: Celestial (comics)

text: The two opposing factions of the First Firmament's children could not peacefully co-exist and the ensuing war nearly destroyed the first universe. At some point during the war, the Aspirants created a now-lost hyper weapon called the Godkiller, a space-borne tall humanoid robot that dwarfed even the Celestials themselves. It was powered by a cosmic artifact later called the Heart of The Voldi (named after the species which would adopt it) and operated by genetically engineered pilots. During the war, the Godkiller destroyed countless billions of Celestials and brought them to the brink of extinction. At this point, for unknown reasons, a civil war broke out among the Aspirants that led to the Godkiller being stripped of critical parts for weapons. This division within the Aspirants gave the Celestials a chance to recover and make their last stand. In the final battle against the Aspirants, the Celestials detonated their ultimate weapons that tore the First Firmament apart and very nearly killed it. In a desperate act of self-preservation, the core essence of the First Firmament took the surviving Aspirants and fled outside Reality. In the wake of its near destruction, the major fragments of the First Universe that were torn off coalesced into a new cosmic being, one with multiple realities composing it. This was the birth of the Second Cosmos and the First Multiverse. After the birth of the first Multiverse, the "rebels" settled inside him, multiplied and began their vast plan to create and nurture transitory but evolving life on the newborn worlds within, a general outline of the basic plan the Celestials follow for shaping the evolution of life on a chosen planet after it develops primitive sentient life.


title: Celestial (comics)

text: This initial visit is called a First Host of Celestials, after the chosen planet has been judged to possess the needed properties for an effective "seeding". The Celestials then return for follow-up visits or "Hosts", during which they monitor the subject planet's progress and make whatever modifications or interventions they deem appropriate. These Hosts have been documented on Earth, and have also been found on many other planets throughout the universe. Other major examples include the Skrull homeworld, hundreds of millions of years ago, and numerous Sh'iar worlds, such as Gladiator's homeworld.


title: Celestial (comics)

text: Collecting a number of natives during the Stone Age, they then begin genetic experimentation that determines the future development of that species. They create two subspecies from the natives: Eternals, Deviants, and a majority "normal" strain that may or may not be modified in some manner that enhances its long-term development. For example, the Celestials first visited Earth nearly a million years ago and implanted a special genetic code into the early hominids. This implanted DNA structure has been revealed to be not only the source of the ability of select random humans to develop superpowers upon exposure to dangerous environmental catalysts, it also allowed for the development of benevolent mutations that caused the existence of inborn potential superpowers in mutants. In truth, the Celestials came to Earth to investigate the disappearance of a Celestial only to realize Earth may eventually create antibodies against the Horde infection via its powered inhabitants.


title: Celestial (comics)

text: Approximately 21,000 years ago, the Celestials returned to Earth for the Second Host and found that the Deviants had created a vast empire across the world based on the continent of Lemuria, where they had conquered most of the primitive human tribes with their superior technology. They were also about to go to war with the original human inhabitants of the neighboring continent of Atlantis. The Celestials then destroyed Lemuria and sank it under the ocean, utterly shattering the Deviants' empire and indirectly sinking Atlantis-therefore destroying both continents and reshaping the Earth.


title: Celestial (comics)

text: Resenting the presence of the Celestials and their monitoring of Earth's progress, the Skyfather figures of Earth (e.g. Odin, Zeus) attempted to stop the Third Host, but were quickly outmatched. The Space Gods then informed they would return 1,000 years later to judge Earth's right to continue existing.


title: Celestial (comics)

text: The Skyfathers then developed a convoluted plan to stop the Fourth Host via the use of the Odinsword and Destroyer armour, but once again the Celestials prevented the offensive and melted the Destroyer armour into slag, scattering the Asgardians' life forces. The Earthmothers (such as Frigga and Hera) of Earth, however, had planned a peaceful solution and made an offering of twelve perfect humans, which was accepted, and the planet was spared judgment. The judgment process on another planet was witnessed by Thor, who observed Celestial Arishem the Judge sending an execution code to Exitar the Exterminator, a tall Celestial who carried out Arishem's "sentence". Exitar terraforms the planet in question into a garden paradise, with only the "evil" inhabitants having been destroyed. On one occasion, the hero Quasar observes a race completely failing the genetic test, with every living creature being destroyed with their planet.


title: Celestial (comics)

text: The Celestials' actions conflicted with the policy of "non-interference" practiced by fellow cosmic entities the Watchers, with the two races becoming enemies. The Celestials and their "opposites", the locusts of the universe, cosmic insect-like beings that would eventually be called the Horde, are established as instruments of an entity referred to as The Fulcrum (apparently an aspect of the One Above All), their purpose to be "instruments of the planting/creation/teeming of the universe".


title: Celestial (comics)

text: One of the Celestials to first enter into the Abyss left after the destruction of the 6th Cosmos encountered the dark elder god Knull and picked him up to examine him. Enraged over the Celestials despoiling the Abyss through their creation of the 7th Cosmos, Knull manifested a blade of living abyss from his shadow - creating the first All-Black The Necrosword - and decapitated the Celestial, thereby marking it as the first death in the renewed Multiverse.


title: Celestial (comics)

text: A team of space adventurers, the Guardians of the Galaxy, find and use as a base the severed head of a Celestial floating in an area of space known as "The Rip". Dubbed "Knowhere", the structure also acts as a common port of call (complete with a market and bar) for travelers from all points in the space-time continuum. The base is administered by its chief of security, Cosmo, a telepathic and telekinetic Soviet space dog originally lost in Earth orbit in the 1960s. Courtesy of the deceased Celestial's "Continuum Cortex", travelers with special "passport" bracelets can teleport to any point in the universe instantaneously.


title: Celestial (comics)

text: In the beginning, the Celestials were foolish to play god and thought that with life and creation, there must be also death and destruction, so they created the Exterminators to be that death and destruction. Their creation turned on them and since they were unable to kill their creation, they imprisoned the Exterminators to the walls that separated realities. Learning from their mistakes, they eventually created the Death Seed with the same purpose. The Exterminators remained there for millennia, until the walls began to crack and started to teleport between universes, which weakened the walls even more and were able to escape. Dark Beast and an alternate version of Beast used the Dreaming Celestial to open a portal to go through Earth-295, which caused one of the Exterminators to travel to Earth-616 and drained the Dreaming Celestial. Bosnos the seventh and most supreme of the celestials was sent to clean up after the destruction the Exterminators left behind. Combating early decisions of needing a more exponential race and to implant the universal numbers. Bosnos was Born.


title: Celestial (comics)

text: During the "Time Runs Out" storyline, the Beyonders are revealed to have killed all the Celestials in each reality across the multiverse, to perform an experiment by destroying the Seventh Multiverse.


title: Celestial (comics)

text: A number of Celestials from across the multiverse had survived the Beyonders' attack, however, having taken shelter within the folds of space-time. They were planning to reenter the Multiverse after it was reborn after the "Secret Wars" event. This rebirth however had an unforeseen consequence: it provided an opening for the embittered First Firmament, who had been patiently waiting Outside, to attack the newly reborn, and therefore greatly weakened Eternity, with the goal of destroying the multiverse and restoring itself to the center of creation. The Firmament first chained and then began infiltrating Eternity with both its loyal Aspirant agents and taking control over the lesser cosmic entities that protected the cosmic balance in its component universes. Under the Firmament's influence, Master Order and Lord Chaos destroyed the reborn Living Tribunal in front of Galactus the Lifebringer and then found their servant, The In-Betweener and forcibly merged into a new cosmic being many orders of magnitude of power greater that called itself Logos. Logos then located the surviving Celestials and destroyed all but one of them who was rescued by The Queen of Nevers.


title: Celestial (comics)

text: Later, while observing the last stand against the First Firmament, The Queen of Nevers reveals the reason why she had saved the One Above All. By using him as a seed, she raises the Celestials anew as her own Avatars of Possible in what she claims to be the Fifth Host. The Celestials then faced and defeated the Aspirants of the First Firmament.


title: Celestial (comics)

text: Later it was revealed that during the Stone Age, a Celestial referred to as "The Fallen" came to Earth. It was described as "deranged" as it dug into the Earth apparently searching for something. Due to the danger it posed, the Avengers of the Stone Age fought the Fallen and defeated it before burying it deep underground in the modern-day country of South Africa, where it was found and awakened by a group of archaeologists after they uncovered the cavern it was sealed in. The Fallen then summoned the Final Host while killing the archaeologists and soon afterwards was approached by Loki, the Asgardian God of Mischief, for unknown purposes.


title: Celestial (comics)

text: Some time later, Celestials began literally "raining" down on Earth forcing the Avengers to reunite again and just in time to see the arrival of the Final Host which is composed of Dark Celestials that are each physically unique and were the ones who easily took down their brethren. Soon afterwards it appeared that these Dark Celestials are in league with the Horde of bugs pouring out of the center of the planet and with Loki. In an attempt to learn more about the Celestials, Iron Man and Doctor Strange visited the Eternals, only to find them all dead or dying from self-inflicted wounds. Ikaris was found barely alive and used his last words to reveal to Iron Man that the Uni-mind was the only thing that can stop the Final Host from fully unleashing the Horde, as the existence of a dead Celestial that Loki calls the Progenitor is revealed.


title: Celestial (comics)

text: The Progenitor is actually the first Celestial to ever set foot on Earth, when it was an insignificant speck of molten mud and utterly lifeless. He came to Earth not because of some grand cosmic design or godly destiny nor did he even consciously choose the planet, he came merely because he was dying and falling. As it turns out, even the omnipotent Celestials get sick, and the Progenitor was hopelessly infected by the Horde. As the Progenitor died, his blood and rotting flesh mixed into the shifting primordial elements of the newly formed planet and thus affected the course of Earth evolution as it made the planet a unique breeding ground for all the super-powered beings one day to come.


title: Celestial (comics)

text: Five billion years after the death of the Progenitor and his corpse's incorporation into Earth's "primordial soup", another Celestial eventually followed looking for him. This was The Fallen, who was known as Zgreb the Aspirant, the lover of the Progenitor and according to Loki, it became mad by the sight of its dead lover, or perhaps by the effect of the Horde latching onto him. In any event, Odin and his Prehistoric Avengers took on this Celestial, leaving it for dead deep in the Earth. Eventually, the disappearance of two Celestials brought down The First Host to Earth. They made quick work of the Prehistoric Avengers but left after the battle, rather than destroy the Avengers or the Earth. Loki surmises that the Celestials feared succumbing to the Horde themselves and believed it better to leave Zgreb buried deep underground to keep the Horde infection contained, creating in the process two opposing humanoid species – the Eternals and the Deviants - to defend the process under the false impression that they were actually protecting the human race.


title: Celestial (comics)

text: When Loki revived Zgreb from his long slumber deep in the Earth, he discovered that the Horde did not kill Zgreb, instead they transformed him into Zgreb the Sorrower, a new breed known as Dark Celestial. Together with the rest of his kind, collectively known as the Final Host, they've killed or infected every other Celestial, the dead bodies of whom now litter the Earth, feeding the Horde.


title: Celestial (comics)

text: As the entire planet panics due to the Final Host actions, the heroes finally realize why the Celestials did not cleanse planet Earth when they had the chance, they saw the potential to grow an antidote to defeat the Horde and so they waited, visiting the planet now and then to see if the cure had been developed. Eventually the world breathes a sigh of relief as the Avengers, combining their powers through the Uni-Mind (given to Iron Man by Ikaris) purged the Earth of the Horde, curing the infected Celestials. The newly revived Celestials then defeat the Dark Celestials.


title: Celestial (comics)

text: In the 2018 "Infinity Wars" event, as the Infinity Stones are gathered once again, Loki dupes his own version of the Infinity Watch within the Soul World, stealing the six Stones belonging to the main Marvel universe from Gamora. He does so in order to dive deep into the Quarry of the Gods at the end of time, believing unlimited power awaits him there. But as he enters, he discovers the Stones hold no power in the bottom of the quarry, becoming just ordinary rocks. More so, he sees the area littered with thousands of Stones, confirming that this quarry is where these powerful artifacts originated and are actively mined. Loki immediately recognizes the miners as a squad of unique Celestials (this new group could very well be the oldest of their kind) who are clearly manipulating the fate of the multiverse by spreading the stones out across all the multiverse.


title: Celestial (comics)

text: During the "King in Black" storyline, three Celestials are shown to have been slain by Knull, with their corpses being possessed by his symbiotes. Thor and Knull later fight and Thor gains the upper hand until Knull distracts Thor by bringing in his symbiote-possessed Celestials and stabs Thor in the back. Iron Man arrives to use his Extremis-infected Symbiote Dragon in order to take control of the symbiote-possessed Celestials.


title: Celestial (comics)

text: During the "" storyline, the Avengers and the Eternals that did not side with Druig work to revive the Progenitor (which became the Avengers Mountain) when Druig awakens the Hex to attack Krakoa. This was not to be a simple resurrection. Instead, they would re-write the "programming" of the Celestial, creating a being with ideals more aligned with their own. This new God would, if they succeeded, forcibly end Druig's war. Upon waking, the Progenitor did just that and ordered the Hex to leave. However, the Progenitor also quickly surmised that the inhabitants of Earth had driven it to ruin, so he declared they would have twenty-four hours to prove themselves more good than evil, else he would destroy the world. He immediately takes notice of Captain America, whom he harshly judges and declares a failure. The Progenitor is also well aware of its own weaknesses and showed the Avengers, X-Men, Eternals and essentially all of mankind a future of its death which also significantly devastated mankind. The Progenitor was skilled enough to fool even Jean Grey. He then continues its judgment declaring Emma Frost, Destiny, and Mystique as failures citing them as proof that the civilians of Earth cannot lay their trust in heroes to save them. It does give Kro positive judgment and will consider the others longer. Cyclops later visited the Progenitor in the Arctic. As it starts to pass it's judgment, Cyclops states that he requests a change of venue stating that Jean Grey is the only one who can judge him and that his fellow X-Men might scold him later. The Progenitor gives Cyclops a positive judgment. While the Progenitor has also passed positive judgment on the Deviants, it also gave positive judgment to Phastos, negative judgment to Makkari, deferred Ajak's judgment, and will consider Ikaris' judgment longer. Eventually after many judgments the Progenitor judged humanity as unworthy and while the heroes of the planet united against it, they were nevertheless defeated. The Progenitor demanded the Machine that is Earth to self-destruct, but the Machine refused and Phastos was able to reset it before the Progenitor could cause it to explode. Meanwhile, some of the Eternals, X-Men, Sinister, and Stark infiltrated the Celestial to activate its own self-destruct while continuing to be judged by the Progenitor. Upon reaching the core, they convinced the Progenitor that it itself is not worthy which resulted in it undoing every death it caused and reverted back to Avengers Mountain. It also empowered Ajak so that she could be the god the Progenitor could not. However, an aspect of the Progenitors' consciousness still exists and continues to observe the world and its inhabitants. It also communicated with Starbrand and told her things she should know, like the fact that her powers were shortening her lifespan.


title: Celestial (comics)

text: Referred to as "space gods" by the Eternals and the Deviants, the Celestials appear as silent, armored humanoids with an average height of . They weigh an average of 260 tons, meaning they are far denser than air. They are capable of feats such as reducing the Asgardian construct known as the Destroyer to slag, moving planets at will, and creating and containing entire pocket universes. Reed Richards theorized that the Celestials' source of power was Hyperspace itself – the source of all energy in the Marvel Universe. The characters are almost invulnerable, and have only been harmed in rare instances, before instantly regenerating.


title: Celestial (comics)

text: The first murder of a Celestial (which was also the first murder of the current multiverse) was carried out by the God of the Abyss, Knull, using the first Necrosword. The first known assassination of a Celestial was carried out by the Apocalypse Twins, who used the divinely-enchanted axe "Jarnbjorn" to pierce Celestial armor, against the Celestial Gardener. Composed of Asgardian Steel, "Jarnbjorn" was unable to pierce the Celestial-armored Apocalypse until Thor blessed the axe with his blood. The now-lost hyperweapon, Godkiller, a space-borne humanoid robot which dwarfs even the Celestials themselves, was claimed to have destroyed Celestials literally by the billions.


title: Celestial (comics)

text: New Celestials may be born by consuming the mass of the Black Galaxy, a place made out pure biological and organic matter, or with planets which were implanted with Celestial eggs/embryos at the core and after millions of years they would be born and would consume the planet, similar to the Celestials of Earth X. However, there are other ways for a Celestial to be born as witnessed with the Celestial Madonna who was carrying an infant Celestial. The Celestials also have an immune system, consisting of armored behemoths, jellyfish-like antibodies and a swarm creature with wings and tentacles, which can fire blasts from their eye. The Celestials are all telepathically linked to one-another no matter the distance.


title: Celestial (comics)

text: Thanos, wielding the Infinity Gauntlet, ranked the Celestials as being on roughly the same scale of power as Galactus, the Stranger, Odin, and Zeus, but below that of Mistress Love, Lord Chaos, and Master Order.


title: Celestial (comics)

text: The characters also appear in the 1999 alternate universe limited series "Earth X", appearing as beings of energy encased in armor composed of vibranium, a metal with properties that prevent their dissipation. They reproduce by planting a fragment of their essence in a planet, which matures into a new Celestial over the course of eons. As a form of protection of that growing Celestial, its "parents" would manipulate the DNA of a planet's dominant life form to gain super-abilities and unknowingly act as antibodies, protecting the planet until the Celestial is born. The cosmic entity Galactus opposes them, devouring planets that incubate Celestial "eggs" in order to prevent the Celestials from overpopulating the universe.


title: Celestial (comics)

text: In the alternate reality of the 1998 miniseries "Mutant X", the Celestials openly opposed the Goblin Entity, an all powerful being that consumed entire galaxies and the polar opposite of the Phoenix Force. While they were ultimately successful in imprisoning their enemy, they would die from the injuries they sustained during the battle. The Goblin Entity escaped its prison several years later by attaching itself to the life force of Madelyne Pryor.


title: Celestial (comics)

text: The Celestials of Earth-4280 were convinced they were gods and attempted to conquer the Multiverse by use of the Bridge, a device created by Reed Richards that allows its users to observe and enter alternate worlds. They were defeated by the combined forces of Galactus and a Franklin Richards from an alternate future.


title: Celestial (comics)

text: In "X-Men '92", the race known as the M'Kraan had developed mutants who then evolved into Celestials, such as Xodus the Harvester who thought that the mutants from other worlds would replace his kind.


title: Celestial (comics)

text: "What If? Secret Wars" features a version of Doctor Doom with the powers of the Beyonder and the Infinity Gauntlet who had defeated the Celestials.


title: Mary Poppins Returns

text: Mary Poppins Returns is a 2018 American musical fantasy film directed by Rob Marshall, with a screenplay written by David Magee and a story by Magee, Marshall, and John DeLuca. Loosely based on the book series "Mary Poppins" by P. L. Travers, the film is a live-action/traditionally animated sequel to the 1964 live-action/traditionally animated film "Mary Poppins", and stars Emily Blunt as Mary Poppins, with supporting roles from Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ben Whishaw, Emily Mortimer, Julie Walters, Dick Van Dyke, Angela Lansbury, Colin Firth, Meryl Streep, and David Warner in his final film appearance. Set in London during the Great Depression, the film sees Mary Poppins, the former nanny of Jane and Michael Banks, return to them in the wake of the death of Michael's wife.


title: Mary Poppins Returns

text: Walt Disney Pictures announced the film in September 2015. Marshall was hired later that month, and Blunt and Miranda were cast in February 2016. Principal photography lasted from February to July 2017, and took place at Shepperton Studios in England. "Mary Poppins Returns" had its world premiere at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on November 29, 2018, and was theatrically released in the United States on December 19, 2018, making it the longest interval between film sequels in cinematic history, at 54 years.


title: Mary Poppins Returns

text: The film grossed $349 million worldwide and received positive reviews from critics, who praised the performances of the cast (particularly that of Blunt and Miranda), direction, visuals, musical score, musical numbers, costume design, production values, visual effects (especially the animated segments), and sense of nostalgia, although some critics found it too derivative of its predecessor. It was chosen by both the National Board of Review and American Film Institute as one of the top ten films of 2018 and received numerous award nominations, including four at the 76th Golden Globe Awards (including for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy), nine at the 24th Critics' Choice Awards, three at the 72nd British Academy Film Awards, and a SAG Award nomination for Blunt at the 25th Screen Actors Guild Awards. It also received four Oscar nominations for Best Original Score, Best Original Song ("The Place Where Lost Things Go"), Best Production Design, and Best Costume Design at the 91st Academy Awards.


title: Mary Poppins Returns

text: The scene is set in London, during the Great Depression. Michael Banks lives in his childhood home with his three children, John, Annabel and Georgie, after the death of his wife, Kate, a year earlier. Michael has taken a loan from his employer, the Fidelity Fiduciary Bank, and is three months behind on payments. Wilkins, the bank's corrupt new chairman, sends associates to warn him that his house will be repossessed if the loan is not repaid in full by Friday. Michael and his sister Jane recall that their father left them shares in the bank that should cover the loan, and they search the house for the share certificate. During the search, Michael finds his childhood kite and disposes of it.


title: Mary Poppins Returns

text: The children visit a local park and Georgie, who has found the kite, flies it. Mary Poppins descends from the sky with the kite in her hand. She takes the children home and announces that she will take charge of them as their nanny. She draws a bath for the three children, leading to underwater adventures ("Can You Imagine That?").


title: Mary Poppins Returns

text: Michael visits the bank seeking proof of his shares, but Wilkins denies that there are any records before covertly destroying the page from the official ledger. Annabel and John decide to sell their mother's 'priceless' bowl to pay off the debt. Georgie tries to stop them, and the bowl becomes damaged while the three fight over it. Jack, a lamplighter and Bert's former apprentice, greets Mary Poppins and joins her and the children on a trip into the scene decorating the bowl. During their visit to the Royal Doulton Music Hall ("A Cover is Not the Book"), Georgie is kidnapped by a talking wolf, weasel, and badger that are repossessing their belongings, and Annabel and John set out to rescue him. They do so successfully, fall off the edge of the bowl, and wake in their beds. Realizing they are hurting after the loss of their mother; Mary sings them a lullaby ("The Place Where Lost Things Go").


title: Mary Poppins Returns

text: The children visit Mary Poppins's cousin Topsy, hoping to get the bowl mended ("Turning Turtle") and learn that it has little monetary value. They take Michael's briefcase to him at the bank, where they overhear Wilkins discussing the planned repossession of their house. Believing that he and his associates are the same animal gang who kidnapped him, Georgie interrupts the meeting. Michael is angry with the children for putting the house and his job at risk. Mary Poppins takes the children home, guided by Jack and his fellow lamplighters who teach the children their rhyming slang ("Trip A Little Light Fantastic"). The children comfort a despairing Michael, and the four reconcile.


title: Mary Poppins Returns

text: As midnight on Friday approaches, the Bankses prepare to move out of their house. While examining his old kite, Michael discovers that Georgie had used the missing share certificate to mend it. Jane and Michael rush to the bank while Mary Poppins and the children go with Jack and the lamplighters to Big Ben to 'turn back time'. After scaling the clock tower, they turn the clock back five minutes, giving Jane and Michael just enough time to reach the bank. Wilkins, however, will not accept the certificate as part of it is still missing. Wilkins's elderly uncle and the bank's previous chairman, Mr. Dawes Jr., arrives and sacks Wilkins on the spot for his corrupt business practices. He reveals that Michael has plenty of assets to cover the loan, namely the judiciously invested tuppence he had deposited with the bank many years earlier.


title: Mary Poppins Returns

text: The next day, the Bankses visit the park, where a fair is in full swing. They purchase balloons that carry them into the air, where they are joined by Jack and many others ("Nowhere to Go but Up"). On their return home, Mary Poppins announces that it is time for her to leave. Jane and Michael thank her as her umbrella carries her back up into the sky and away.


title: Mary Poppins Returns

text: A sequel to "Mary Poppins" had been gestating in development hell since the first film's release in 1964. Walt Disney attempted to produce a sequel a year later but was rejected by the author P. L. Travers, who dismissed Disney's first adaptation. In the late 1980s, the chairman of Walt Disney Studios, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and the vice-president of live-action production, Martin Kaplan, approached Travers with the idea of a sequel set years after the first film, with the Banks children now as adults and Julie Andrews reprising her role as an older Mary Poppins. Travers again rejected the concept except for Andrews' return, suggesting a sequel set one year after the original film with Andrews reprising the role. That idea also did not come to fruition, however, because Travers would not go ahead without certain caveats that the company would not concede, including barring Poppins' clothing from being red.