Movies

At the Oscars, it’s the big-ticket categories that tend to draw the most attention, but this year the winner for animated short rose to prominence.“Hair Love” is a sweet and joyful story about an African-American father learning to style his daughter’s natural hair in his wife’s absence. The film uses words sparingly; the characters’ gestures and expressions take viewers through the father’s commonplace but poignant endeavor.One of the film’s messages — embracing and loving your natural hair — was transported to the ceremony itself on Sunday. The actress Gabrielle Union and the former N.B.A. champion Dwyane Wade, married producers of “Hair Love,” invited to the ceremony a black high school student in Texas who was suspended because of the way he wore his dreadlocks.The student, DeAndre Arnold, was told that his look violated the student handbook, which said that male students’ hair must not extend below the top of a T-shirt collar. Critics of the policy called it racist and rooted in limiting gender roles.Arnold wore a black and navy blue tuxedo by Paul Smith. His mother, Sandy Arnold, wore a blue gown by Solace London. (The company Dove paid for their Oscar tickets and red-carpet looks.)Accepting his Oscar, “Hair Love’s” writer, Matthew A. Cherry, said he wanted to draw attention to the Crown Act, a law first passed in California that bans discrimination based on natural hairstyles and that backers hope to pass in other states.In “Hair Love,” young Zuri tries to fashion her thick curls into a stylish hairdo using the directions of a vlogger, but when she struggles to make it work, her dad steps in. He starts out frustrated and bewildered by the array of hair tools and products, almost giving up until he seeks help from the natural hair vlogger.The six-minute film stood out in a year where Oscars nominees have noticeably lacked racial diversity, despite efforts in the film industry to shift the narrative: Only one actor of color — Cynthia Erivo of “Harriet” — was nominated.Cherry, a former football player, said in an interview last year that he wanted the film to combat negative stereotypes about black fatherhood and address a lack representation in animation.“I wanted to see a young black family in the animated world,” he said.On the stage on Sunday night, another “Hair Love” filmmaker, Karen Rupert Toliver, described the film as a labor of love that stemmed from “a firm belief that representation matters deeply,” especially in cartoons “because that’s when we first see our movies and it’s how we shape our lives and think about how we see the world.”The story is told mostly through miming and body language, but the vlogger is voiced by Issa Rae. It was directed by Bruce Smith, the creator of “The Proud Family,” the Disney Channel animated sitcom, which is due for a revival on Disney Plus; and the veteran Pixar animator Everett Downing Jr., whose credits include “Brave” and “Up.” More

Topping the box office, “Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)” still fell far below projections. Analysts had expected the film’s domestic opening to reach around $50 million; instead it brought in $33.3 million.Distributed by Warner Bros., the movie stars Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, the DC Comics figure and sometimes girlfriend of the Joker. The runaway success Warner Bros. had with “Joker” last year — it grossed over $1 billion worldwide — helped set expectations high.Directed by Cathy Yan, “Birds of Prey” is a spinoff of the violent ensemble superhero film “Suicide Squad.” That movie opened to about $134 million in 2016, even though critics panned it. “Birds of Prey” received warmer reviews (its current Rotten Tomatoes score is 81 percent fresh), and ticket buyers gave it a B+ grade in CinemaScore exit polls. That reception didn’t translate into success.With a reported budget of $84.5 million, “Birds of Prey” brought in an additional estimated $48 million overseas this weekend, according to the studio, which lifts its total weekend sales to about $81 million.[Read our critic’s review of “Birds of Prey.”]The film dethroned the action-comedy “Bad Boys for Life” (Sony), which fell to second place. “Bad Boys for Life” made an estimated $12 million in domestic sales this weekend, its fourth in theaters and its first not in the top spot.Third place went to Universal’s “1917,” a World War I action movie from Sam Mendes, released in most theaters Jan. 10. The only Oscars contender in the top five, it sold an estimated $9 million in domestic tickets this weekend according to Comscore, which compiles box office data.Rounding out the top five, Universal’s adventure movie “Dolittle” was in its fourth weekend and brought in an estimated $6.7 million; and Sony’s “Jumanji: The Next Level,” an action-comedy that managed an estimated $5.5 million, despite being in its ninth weekend. More