Tag: AFP

  • ‘Deadpool’ still has a pulse, again leading N.American box office

    ‘Deadpool’ still has a pulse, again leading N.American box office

    Disney/Marvel superhero comedy “Deadpool & Wolverine” clawed its way back to the top of the North American box office this weekend, taking in an estimated $18.3 million, industry watcher Exhibitor Relations reported Sunday.

    The Ryan Reynolds/Hugh Jackman vehicle has now topped the box office for four of its five weekends out, logging impressive total ticket sales of $577.2 million domestically and $634 million internationally.

    Last weekend’s leader, sci-fi horror film “Alien: Romulus” from 20th Century Studios, slipped to second, earning $16.2 million for the Friday-through-Sunday period.

    The tale of a terrifying encounter between space colonists and a face-eating alien is directed by Uruguayan filmmaker Fede Alvarez. Cailee Spaeny, David Jonsson, Archie Renaux and Spike Fearn star.

    Sony’s “It Ends With Us,” a romantic drama based on a popular Colleen Hoover novel, had $11.9 million in ticket sales. Blake Lively stars and co-produced the film, which has performed unexpectedly well for the genre, taking in a global total so far of $242 million.

    “It’s among the highlights of the summer,” said analyst David A. Gross, adding that “it’s another sign of the industry’s improving health.”

    New psychological thriller “Blink Twice,” from MGM Studios, placed fourth, at $7.3 million. The story of a cocktail waitress (Naomi Ackie) who visits the mysterious island of a tech billionaire (Channing Tatum) was directed by actress Zoe Kravitz (daughter of singer Lenny Kravitz and actor Lisa Bonnet) in her directorial debut.

    Given the glutted field of crime thrillers, Gross said, how well such films perform is “almost always cast-driven.”  In this case the cast, along with Ackie and Tatum, includes Christian Slater, Kyle MacLachlan, Haley Joel Osment and Geena Davis.

    And in fifth was Sony’s new biblical drama “The Forge,” at $6.6 million, not a bad opening for a movie that cost $5 million to make. A spinoff from 2015’s inspirational drama “War Room,” it tells the story of a floundering, directionless 19-year-old who finds motivation to get himself together.

    Rounding out the top 10 were:

    “Twisters” ($6.2 million)

    “Coraline” (re-release, $5 million)

    “The Crow” ($4.6 million)

    “Despicable Me 4” ($4.4 million)

    “Inside Out 2” ($2.1 million)

  • New Coppola film trailer axed for using fake movie reviews 

    New Coppola film trailer axed for using fake movie reviews 

    A trailer promoting Francis Ford Coppola’s new film “Megalopolis” has been withdrawn after it was found to have incorporated fake movie reviews, reportedly generated by artificial intelligence.

    Coppola’s wildly ambitious, decades-in-the-making movie, which hits theaters next month and stars Adam Driver, has starkly divided critics.

    A trailer released this week drew parallels to earlier works by the revered Hollywood director that also initially left some professional reviewers cold before going on to become classics — suggesting “Megalopolis” can do the same.

    “True genius is often misunderstood,” a voiceover began, before quotes from famous critics calling “The Godfather” a “sloppily self-indulgent movie” and “Apocalypse Now” a “spectacular failure” were presented on the screen.

    The problem? None of those quotes were real.

    Instead, the trailer appears to have used AI-generated imitations of the type of withering put-downs associated with renowned reviewers such as Pauline Kael.

    In at least one case, a criticism appears to have been lifted from a review of an entirely different film

    The trailer was quickly recalled, with Hollywood studio Lionsgate offering “our sincere apologies to the critics involved and to Francis Ford Coppola” for an “inexcusable error in our vetting process.”

    “We screwed up. We are sorry,” said a statement.

    Lionsgate has since parted company with the marketing consultant behind the trailer, trade outlet Variety said Friday. Meanwhile Deadline reported that the quotes were generated by AI.

    The furor comes at a time when Hollywood is roiled by the encroaching impact of AI. Fears the technology could replace entertainment industry jobs — from actors to writers — were central to last summer’s devastating strikes.

    The trailer episode is just the latest controversy to hit “Megalopolis,” an already hugely divisive epic.

    Legendary director Coppola has said he spent $120 million of his own money to make the film, selling a stake in his California vineyard.

    But its much-hyped world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival left the industry confounded.

    Critics’ responses ranged from “a true modern masterwork” to a “catastrophe.”

    Driver stars as a seemingly magical architect whose efforts to rebuild a decaying city into a futuristic utopia are thwarted by its resentful mayor (Giancarlo Esposito).

    The movie also stars Aubrey Plaza, Shia LaBeouf and Dustin Hoffman.

    It receives its North American premiere at the Toronto film festival next month, before being released in US theaters on September 27.

    The controversy has provoked theories among some Hollywood observers that the entire unseemly debacle could have been staged to provoke headlines.

    Lionsgate did not respond to an AFP request for comment.

    But a source familiar with the marketing plan told AFP the studio did not deliberately fabricate the quotes, and removed the trailer as soon as it became aware of the situation.

  • Swift says filled with ‘fear’, ‘guilt’ after Vienna terror threat

    Swift says filled with ‘fear’, ‘guilt’ after Vienna terror threat

    Pop megastar Taylor Swift on Wednesday broke her silence about the cancellation of three Vienna concerts over an alleged suicide attack plot, saying the incident filled her with “fear” and “guilt.”

    “Having our Vienna shows cancelled was devastating. The reason for the cancellations filled me with a new sense of fear, and a tremendous amount of guilt because so many had planned on coming to those shows,” the American said in a post on social media platform Instagram.

    The Vienna shows, part of the European leg of Swift’s record-breaking “Eras” tour, were cancelled after authorities warned of a terror plot by sympathizers of the Islamic State armed group.

    Police have detained three suspects over the alleged attack threat, with the United States saying it shared intelligence to assist in the investigation.

    The main suspect, a 19-year-old Austrian with North Macedonian roots, had allegedly confessed, saying he “intended to carry out an attack using explosives and knives,” according to Austrian domestic intelligence agency (DSN) head Omar Haijawi-Pirchner.

    In the social media post Wednesday, Swift thanked the authorities.

    “I was also so grateful to the authorities because thanks to them, we were grieving concerts and not lives. I was heartened by the love and unity I saw in the fans who banded together,” she said.

    The European leg of Swift’s sold-out tour began in Paris in May and has taken in Sweden, Portugal, Spain, Britain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Italy, Germany and Poland.

    It concluded on Tuesday with five shows at London’s Wembley stadium.

  • ‘Abuse every day’: Indian female medics speak out after brutal murder

    ‘Abuse every day’: Indian female medics speak out after brutal murder

    Saving lives was the childhood dream for 28-year-old Indian doctor Radhika, but after the brutal rape and murder of a colleague her own safety has increasingly become a top concern.

    Earlier this month, at the government-run hospital where Radhika works in the eastern city of Kolkata, the battered and bloodied body of a 31-year-old woman doctor was found, sparking outrage.

    One man has been detained, but the attack has focused anger on the lack of measures for female doctors to work without fear, and triggered protests and medical strikes.

    “I was on night duty just two days before this incident,” Radhika said at Kolkata’s R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital.

    “What she did is what any of us do -– resting whenever, wherever we can”.

    The murdered doctor — who has not been formally named but is being called “Abhaya”, or “fearless” by protesters — was found in the teaching hospital’s seminar hall, suggesting she had gone there for a break during a long shift.

    Radhika, whose name has been changed for fear of repercussions at her work, said conditions such as long working hours — with barely any time to eat or rest — were not unusual.

    “This could have been any of us, and this still can be any of us,” she added.

    – Attacks all too common –

    Tens of thousands of ordinary Indians have joined protests, channelling anger not only at the chronic issue of violence against women, but also at the failure to provide secure working conditions for them.

    According to the philanthropic organisation Dasra, women make up nearly 30 percent of doctors in India and 80 percent of nursing staff.

    Attacks on female medics are all too common.

    India’s Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered a national task force to examine how to bolster security for healthcare workers, saying the brutality of the killing had “shocked the conscience of the nation”.

    “The lack of institutional safety norms at medical establishments, against both violence and sexual violence against medical professionals, is a matter of serious concern,” the court order read.

    It highlighted a lack of CCTV cameras and a failure to screen visitors to hospitals for weapons.

    Medical superintendent Indira Kabade, who works at KC General Hospital in the southern city of Bengaluru, said she worries her staff can get home safely.

    “We never know if anyone is following them from the hospital,” said Kabade, adding she and many female colleagues want “airport-like security”, including police posted inside the campus.

    “Despite us working non-stop to save lives, there is a need to rethink safety at workplace,” Kabade said.

    The gruesome nature of the doctor’s killing has invoked comparisons with the horrific 2012 gang rape and murder of a young woman on a Delhi bus.

    Nearly 90 rapes a day were reported in 2022 in the country of 1.4 billion people.

    – Foul toilets –

    Exhausted doctors sleep where they can, snatching rest on a chair or the floor.

    “They are just completely tired and their bodies cannot push anymore,” Radhika said.

    There are restrooms for doctors — but men and women have to share, and some have no lock.

    She described one moment of terror when two men barged into the room as she rested.

    “I was really scared,” she said.

    Foul sanitation — including often one toilet for male and female medics — illustrate a failure by the authorities to provide basic infrastructure.

    The situation was particularly worrying when the women were menstruating, Radhika said.

    In the Himalayan territory of Kashmir, doctor Rubeena Bhat said some medics would rather use washrooms in houses neighbouring the hospital.

    “It’s that bad,” she said.

    – ‘Abuse every day’ –

    One female doctor in Thiruvananthapuram, a city in the southern state of Kerala, said she and her colleagues faced abuse every day, from verbal insults to physical molestation.

    “There is no end to it,” she said.

    Female doctors have been encouraged to participate in self-defence classes organised by the medical association.

    “Doctors are called gods or angels by some people,” the Kerala-based doctor said.

    “So we think we are immune to crimes. And when such a crime happens at a place which we consider the safest place, we are all afraid”.

    But while questions remain over her safety, Radhika is certain of her future.

    “I will fight and continue to be in the healthcare service”, she said.

  • France bids farewell to screen legend Alain Delon

    France bids farewell to screen legend Alain Delon

    As tributes for film legend Alain Delon poured in from around the globe following his death at 88, France was preparing on Monday its farewell to one of its greatest stars.

    No national tribute has been planned, as Delon had made it clear he did not want one. He said he wanted to be buried near his dogs on his property in Douchy in central France where he died.He had already started sounding out the local authorities there, Christophe Hurault, the sub-prefect of Loiret, told AFP. The prefecture “had given its agreement in principle”.His three children, Anthony, Anouchka and Alain-Fabien, having squabbled bitterly for months over his medical treatment, spoke in a unified voice Sunday when they announced their father’s death.Now they have to manage the funeral of the screen icon, deciding whether to limit it to close family or extend it to the cinema world.Delon, naturally, dominated the front pages of France’s newspapers Monday, many of them featuring full-page portraits of the actor in his prime.”The Last Samurai”, wrote Le Figaro for its front-page headline, a reference to one of his most famous roles, as the enigmatic assassin in Jean-Pierre Melville’s 1967 thriller “Le Samourai”.

    – End of an era –

    Delon’s performances in some of the greatest films of the 1960s and 70s were widely praised, his charisma on screen impossible to ignore.He was one of the last living legends of a golden era for French cinema in the 1960s.Fellow 60s star Brigitte Bardot, 89, told AFP Delon “leaves a huge void that nothing, nobody, can fill”.French President Emmanuel Macron called him a “French monument” who “played legendary roles and made the world dream”.His death was covered by newspapers around the world, with the New York Times, Washington Post and New York Post all publishing lengthy obituaries.The Washington Post described him as the “angel-faced tough guy of international cinema”, while The Hollywood Reporter said he was the “seductive star of European cinema”.”Mesmeric and beautiful, Alain Delon was one of cinema’s most mysterious stars,” The Guardian critic Peter Bradshaw wrote.Germany’s Spiegel called him “Europe’s James Dean”, while Sueddeutsche Zeitung said the “aura of the handsome angel of death made him a legend”.Italy, where he spent much of his career, also gave extensive coverage to his passing. “There will never be another actor like Delon, unique and immortal”, wrote Il Corriere della Sera.La Stampa and La Repubblica bid “adieu to the legend of French cinema”.”For me, he was a legend,” 26-year-old moviegoer Victor Roussel told AFP before a showing of his 1963 film “The Leopard” at a Paris cinema Sunday.”Alain Delon really represents French cinema with a capital ‘C’”.

    – Controversial views –

    While he had legions of fans around the world, his personal life and political opinions divided opinion.Delon’s relationship with women caused controversy. His sons accused him of domestic violence, which Delon denied while admitting slapping women during quarrels.Delon also drew criticism for supporting Jean-Marie Le Pen, leader of the far-right National Front, who was in favour of the death penalty and spoke against same-sex relationships.Feminists were also appalled by the lifetime achievement award the Cannes Film Festival gave him in 2019.He lived his later years largely as a recluse, though his personal life kept him in the headlines.In 2023, his three children filed a complaint against his live-in assistant Hiromi Rollin, accusing her of harassment and threatening behaviour.The siblings went on to wage a public battle in the media and the courts, arguing over his health, which worsened after a stroke in 2019.Delon lived out his final years in the small village of Douchy, surrounded by high walls, where he planned to be buried not far from his dogs.Outside the entrance to his home, dozens of fans placed flowers to pay their respects.”In our minds we believe that these icons are eternal,” said Marie Arnold, laying white flowers with her sister Michele.”It’s a part of our youth that is gone, it’s very sad.”

  • ‘The Notebook’ star Gena Rowlands dead at 94

    ‘The Notebook’ star Gena Rowlands dead at 94

    Gena Rowlands, an award-winning US actress best known for starring in the films of her first husband, director John Cassavetes, died Wednesday at age 94, according to US media reports.

    Rowlands died surrounded by family at her home in Indian Wells, California, US entertainment publication TMZ reported.

    No official cause of death was immediately given, but Rowlands’s son Nick Cassavetes said in June she had suffered from Alzheimer’s disease for the past five years, according to the New York Times.

    Rowlands starred in 10 films by John Cassavetes, and was married to him for nearly 35 years until his death in 1989.

    Starting in the 1960s, the couple formed an enchanting and explosive on-screen partnership over three decades that explored themes of passion and self-destruction against a backdrop of alcohol and infidelity.

    In what many consider her finest role, Rowlands captured to devastating effect the descent of a housewife into mental illness in “A Woman Under the Influence” (1974), bringing her the first of two Oscar nominations.

    “Incapable of an unreal moment,” said Woody Allen of the actress, whom he cast in his 1988 film “Another Woman.”

    “Whatever I say about Gena isn’t enough because she’s so incredible,” said Winona Ryder, quoted in the LA Times in 1992 when the two co-starred in Jim Jarmusch’s “Night on Earth.”

    – A storied career –

    Rowlands was born on June 19, 1930, in Cambria, Wisconsin, into a cultured middle-class family. Her father was a state senator and her mother was a painter and occasional actress.

    She enrolled in New York’s American Academy of Drama and in 1953 met Cassavetes, a fast-talking and exuberant Greek-American. A year later they were married.

    It was their collaboration that generated her stand-out performances, the highlight arguably being “A Woman Under the Influence” which also brought an Oscar nomination for Cassavetes as director.

    Rowlands was captivating as housewife Mabel who descends into madness after years of quiet, complicated dominance by her hardworking, silent husband, played by Peter Falk.

    In 1989, Cassavetes died from liver failure after years of alcoholism. Rowlands continued to make films and also worked for television, winning four Emmys.

    She and Cassavetes had three children, all of whom have gone on to work in film and television. Her son Nick directed her in “The Notebook” alongside Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams in 2004.

    In 2012, she married retired businessman Robert Forrest and in 2015 was awarded an honorary Academy Award, the same year she retired from acting.

  • Viral marketing stunts made ‘Deadpool’ a $1bn hit, says Disney exec

    Viral marketing stunts made ‘Deadpool’ a $1bn hit, says Disney exec

    From cameos in K-pop videos to cooking chimichangas with celebrity chefs, movie stars like Ryan Reynolds are trying ever-more unorthodox stunts to reach fragmented Gen-Z audiences, according to Disney’s marketing chief.

    The giant Hollywood studio is enjoying a blockbuster summer, with irreverent superhero movie “Deadpool & Wolverine” becoming its latest film set to pass $1 billion at the global box office this weekend.

    Speaking at Disney’s D23 fan convention Saturday, chief brand officer Asad Ayaz attributed a large part of that breakaway success to stars Reynolds and Hugh Jackman pushing the boundaries of traditional marketing.

    The A-listers appeared in character for the “Chk Chk Book” music video with Korean pop sensation Stray Kids, and joined a YouTube cooking competition with Gordon Ramsay and his 22-year-old daughter.

    They also took their world tour to a European Championship soccer match in Germany, a London chicken shop (for a popular online comedy sketch series), and got drenched at a water balloon festival.

    “We were very lucky and fortunate to have talent… who are willing to do things that sometimes actors don’t want to do, like do things in character,” Ayaz told AFP.

    Gen Z, who are roughly aged 12-27, have been particularly difficult for Hollywood and movie theaters to reach in recent years, setting off alarm bells in the industry.

    But unusual stunts “cut through” to young viewers who pay more attention to their phones, social media, YouTube influencers and commercials on video games than traditional TV ads or movie trailers, said Ayaz.

    Much of the focus is on generating off-the-wall content that spreads rapidly online.

    A highly suggestive popcorn bucket for the film, supposedly “designed” by Reynolds’ innuendo-loving Deadpool character, was intended to — and succeeded in — going viral globally.

    Reynolds and Jackman also filmed a pre-movie message warning theater-goers to switch off their cell phones — in character as their wise-cracking superhero characters.

    “Turn your phone to silent,” growls Jackman’s aggressive Wolverine, in an expletive-laden threat to camera, which has been watched hundreds of thousands of times on YouTube.

    “That was an example of us producing unique content with Ryan and Hugh… in full costume,” said Ayaz.

    – Meme-ready marketing –

    “Deadpool and Wolverine” was particularly suited to the gonzo approach because the character of Deadpool repeatedly speaks directly to audiences during the film.

    Reynolds’ potty-mouthed hero frequently pokes fun at parent company Disney, and even makes jokes about “saving” the Marvel superhero franchise, which has endured a relatively lackluster few years.

    But the outside-the-box approach is becoming more widespread.

    Last year, rival studio Warner built a real-life “Malibu DreamHouse” to promote “Barbie,” which went viral after it was listed for rent on Airbnb.

    Another recent big Disney hit, “Inside Out 2,” deals with issues such as anxiety and depression, which are themes frequently discussed by Gen Z online.

    Analysts have warned that many widely shared movie memes feature pirated footage, or clips illegally filmed by audience members in theaters.

    But Disney made custom clips and digital toolkits for “Inside Out 2” available to TikTok and YouTube creators, who rapidly spread memes about the film, said Ayaz.

    “This is an audience that is heavily on their devices. Their consumption of media is very different” to older generations, he said.

    “Making sure that we are on the platforms that Gen Z spends the most amount of time” on is key, Ayaz added.

  • Shah Rukh Khan to be honoured at Locarno Film Festival

    Shah Rukh Khan to be honoured at Locarno Film Festival

    Switzerland’s Locarno Film Festival opens on Wednesday with Shah Rukh Khan, Jane Campion, Alfonso Cuaron and Irene Jacob set to be honoured with special awards.

    Founded in 1946, Locarno is one of the world’s longest-running annual film festivals and focuses on auteur cinema.

    Held on the shores of Lake Maggiore, in the Italian-speaking Ticino region of southern Switzerland, films are screened in Locarno’s central square — a feature of Swiss national life depicted on the country’s 20-franc banknotes.

    The open-air Piazza Grande holds up to 8,000 moviegoers, and films are shown on one of the largest screens in the world.

    Bollywood superstar Khan, 58, will on Saturday be given the Pardo alla Carriera award for people whose artistic contributions have redefined cinema.

    “The wealth and breadth of his contribution to Indian cinema is unprecedented,” said the festival’s artistic director Giona A. Nazzaro.

    “Khan is a king who has never lost touch with the audience that crowned him. This brave and daring artist has always been willing to challenge himself.”

    The 77th festival, which runs until August 17, features 225 films, including 104 world premieres and 15 debut movies.

    Locarno’s top prize is the Golden Leopard. Previous winning directors include Roberto Rossellini, John Ford, Stanley Kubrick, Milos Forman, Mike Leigh and Jim Jarmusch.

    Seventeen films — all world or international premieres — are vying for the award, including movies from Lithuania, France, Austria, Italy and South Korea.

    The Golden Leopard comes with a prize fund of 75,000 Swiss francs ($87,400), shared between the director and the producer.

    Switzerland’s largest film event will feature a retrospective dedicated to the 100th anniversary of Columbia Pictures.

    – ‘Tortured, fascinating characters’ –

    New Zealand’s Campion will be recognised with the Leopard of Honour, given to outstanding personalities of world cinema.

    She was the first woman to be nominated twice for the best director Oscar: first for “The Piano” (1993) and then for “The Power of the Dog” (2021), which secured her the Academy Award.

    “Her work, peopled with tortured, fascinating characters and marked by an astonishing skill in grappling with the more disturbing side of the human condition, represents one of the undisputed pinnacles of contemporary filmmaking,” Nazzaro said.

    Previous recipients include Ennio Morricone, Jean-Luc Godard, Bernardo Bertolucci, Paul Verhoeven, Terry Gilliam and Werner Herzog.

    Mexican filmmaker Cuaron, who won the best director Oscars for “Gravity” (2013) and “Roma” (2018), will receive the lifetime achievement award.

    “Cuaron has reinvented himself as an artist with each new film,” said Nazzaro.

    French-Swiss actress Jacob, who starred in “The Double Life of Veronique” (1991) and “Three Colours: Red” (1994), will receive the Leopard Club Award, given for film work touching the collective imagination.

    Stacey Sher — the US film producer behind “Pulp Fiction”, “Get Shorty”, “Gattaca”, “Erin Brockovich”, “Django Unchained” and “The Hateful Eight” — will receive the Raimondo Rezzonico Award for major achievements in international movie production.

    Nearly 150,000 people attended last year’s festival.

  • Britney biopic in works as Universal buys memoir rights

    Britney biopic in works as Universal buys memoir rights

    A Britney Spears biopic is in development after Universal Pictures bought movie rights to the pop star’s best-selling memoir, the Hollywood studio announced Thursday.

    “Crazy Rich Asians” director Jon Chu is attached to develop and direct the film, based on Spears’s recent autobiographical book “The Woman In Me,” the company said in a statement to AFP.

    Universal won a “highly competitive auction” for the film adaptation rights, with “La La Land” producer Marc Platt due to oversee the project, it said.

    “Excited to share with my fans that I’ve been working on a secret project with #MarcPlatt. He’s always made my favorite movies,” Spears herself posted on social media Thursday.

    “Stay tuned,” she told fans.

    “The Woman In Me” laid bare the troubled singer’s journey from child star to global pop phenomenon, as well as her subsequent high-profile public breakdown and legal battles with her father.

    Full of criticism of her controlling family and an industry that mercilessly devours its talent, the book sold over 2.5 million copies in the United States alone following its publication last October.

    Spears’s phenomenal early music success with late 1990s hits like “…Baby One More Time” coincided with an aggressive paparazzi culture that delighted in capturing her partying alongside hell-raisers like Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan.

    In the book, Spears revealed that Justin Timberlake urged her to have an abortion after she became pregnant during their relationship.

    And she shared details of her brief but intense affair with Irish actor and Oscar nominee Colin Farrell, which she called “a two-week brawl.”

    Following Spears’s public breakdown, she was placed under the conservatorship of her father Jamie Spears, who controlled her money and her personal life, even as she continued to perform high-profile concerts.

    The conservatorship was dissolved by a Los Angeles court in 2021, after a groundswell of public support to “Free Britney.”

    Her father has always insisted that he had the best interests of his daughter at heart and was seeking to protect her from exploitation.

    No release date has been set for the Britney film.

    Universal has previously released musical biopics about hip-hop group N.W.A (“Straight Outta Compton”) and rapper Eminem (“8 Mile.”)

    Chu is also directing Universal’s big-budget, two-part movie adaptation of the musical “Wicked,” with the first film out in November.

  • Five French tourist attractions transformed into Olympic grounds

    Five French tourist attractions transformed into Olympic grounds

    1. Eiffel Tower

    The most famous of the Paris landmarks, the Eiffel Tower, will welcome beach volleyball. The action will take place in a temporary venue near the foot of the “Iron Lady”. Next door, the Champs de Mars park at the foot of the tower will host judo and wrestling.

    Reviled by some Parisians when it was unveiled in 1889 for the World Fair by engineer Gustave Eiffel, the Eiffel Tower has become the capital’s symbol. Besides being one of the world’s top tourist attractions, pulling in seven million visitors a year, it is also a working telecoms tower, used for radio and TV transmissions.

    Winners at the Paris Games will all go home with a small part of the iron colossus. Each medal will contain an 18g crumb of original iron, removed during renovations, melted down and reforged.

    2. Grand Palais

    Fencing and taekwondo battles will take place in the opulent setting of the Grand Palais exhibition hall, a glass-and-steel masterpiece created for the World Fair of 1900. Its distinctive feature is its glass-domed roof, the largest of its kind in Europe, which covers a cavernous exhibition space of 13,500 square metres.

    During World War I, the Grand Palais put its art collection in storage and converted its galleries into a military hospital where soldiers were patched up before returning to the trenches. In the 21st century, the airy nave has hosted giant installations commissioned from some of the world’s leading artists. It has also been flooded to make the biggest ice rink in the world.

    3, Place de la Concorde

    The vast, paved square at the foot of the Champs-Elysees avenue, where heads rolled (literally) during the French Revolution, will serve as an urban sports hub.

    Skateboarding, 3×3 basketball, BMX freestyle and, in its first Games appearance, breakdancing, will all take place on the elegant square by the Seine. Its harmonious name conceals a bloody past. King Louis XVI and his wife Marie-Antoinette were guillotined there in 1793 during the Reign of Terror that followed the 1789 French Revolution. The largest square in Paris is defined by its huge gold obelisk, one of a pair originally erected by Ramses II outside the temple in Luxor in Egypt. It was gifted to Paris in 1830.

    4. Palace of Versailles

    Dressage, showjumping and equestrian cross country will take place in the park of Versailles Palace, some 20 kilometres from Paris. It will also feature on the marathon circuit and host pentathlon events.

    In the 17th century, “the Sun King” Louis XIV transformed Versailles into a home of French royalty, where he resided with around 10,000 staff. The vast gardens include a mile-long canal that once hosted opulent parties. It has been a world heritage site since 1979 and is a firm favourite on the Paris tourist trail.

    5. Marseille

    The Olympics are spreading beyond the capital. Sailing contests will take place in the Mediterranean city of Marseille, France’s boisterous second city, better known as the home of Olympique Marseille football team.

    Over 300 sailors from across the world will battle it out on the sapphire Mediterranean waters off the city. A marina has been built along the scenic Corniche coastal road heading southeast out of the city. It’s unlikely they’ll have the sometimes ferocious mistral wind in their sails. It usually blows in winter and spring.

    Marseille, which will also host 10 football matches, was where the Olympic torch landed in France on May 8 on its relay to Paris.