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Hux was born on Arkanis and was rumored to have been sired from an affair between his father, Commandant Brendol Hux of the Arkanis Academy, and a kitchen worker. Hux and his father are rescued from the Academy when it is about to fall to the New Republic near the end of the Galactic Civil War. When the war ends with the Battle of Jakku and the signing of the Galactic Concordance, the young Hux and his father are part of the Imperial Navy forces who retreat into the Unknown Regions.[4] These forces later emerge as the First Order. The Republic believes that the First Order is just an unimportant band of Imperial holdouts, but Hux's training methods forge a formidable military. He also longs to use the Starkiller Base weapon against the Republic; Hux believes that the Republic is a threat to galactic stability, and that it is his destiny to rule the galaxy.
General Hux
1601
Hux first appears in The Force Awakens as the commander of the First Order. Hux is part of a mission to Jakku to recover a map to Luke Skywalker, the last Jedi. Kylo Ren leads the search for the map, which they are unable to locate. To prevent the return of the Jedi and to eliminate the Resistance, which, under the command of General Leia Organa, emerged to combat the First Order, Snoke allows Hux to use the Starkiller weapon against the Republic's capital world of Hosnian Prime. The Resistance is left without military support from the Republic, so Hux soon turns the weapon towards the Resistance base on D'Qar. Before he can destroy them, however, an attack squadron led by Commander Poe Dameron, with ground support from Han Solo, former stormtrooper Finn, and the Jakku scavenger Rey, destroys Starkiller Base, forcing Hux, his troops, and a defeated Ren to flee the planet.
General Hux
1602
General Hux appears in The Last Jedi as the primary general reporting directly to Supreme Leader Snoke. He attempts to respond to a transmission from Dameron, who pretends not to hear him and describes him as "pasty." Hux then leads the subsequent battle, during which both sides sustain heavy losses. He also oversees the bombardment of the remaining three ships of the Resistance. When he discovers that Snoke is dead, he initially protests Ren's claim to be the new Supreme Leader, but is swiftly persuaded otherwise when Ren uses the Force to choke him, proclaiming "The Supreme Leader is dead, long live the Supreme Leader." At the end of the film, he accompanies Ren to the planet Crait in their attempt to finish off the Resistance. When Ren orders his men to fire on Luke Skywalker, Hux admonishes him to focus on the escaping Resistance members; Ren silences him by using the Force to slam him into a wall, knocking him out.
General Hux
1603
Some details about the backstory of Hux and his father Brendol appear in the 2016 novel Star Wars: Aftermath: Life Debt by Chuck Wendig.[1][2][4] Hux and Brendol are also characters in the 2017 novel Star Wars: Phasma by Delilah S. Dawson.[5]
General Hux
1604
Hux also is a playable Dark Side squad leader in a sequel-era update to the mobile MOBA Star Wars: Force Arena, released in late 2017.[6]
General Hux
1605
In his review of The Force Awakens, Henry Barnes of The Guardian wrote that Gleeson's "screechy pseudo-Nazi role" as General Hux is "not as colourful or as nuanced" as Adam Driver's part as Kylo Ren, "but – given he's a functionary – Gleeson certainly makes an impression."[7] Reviewing Hux and his role in the film, David Rutz of The Washington Free Beacon wrote that while Hux is portrayed as a villain, he is shown to be a capable general and "a committed soldier to his cause with laser-like focus on achieving the First Order's ends."[8]
General Hux
1606
The Accountant is a 2016 American crime thriller film directed by Gavin O'Connor, written by Bill Dubuque and starring Ben Affleck, Anna Kendrick, J. K. Simmons, Jon Bernthal, Jeffrey Tambor, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, and John Lithgow. The storyline follows a small-town Illinois certified public accountant with high-functioning autism[3] who actually makes his living uncooking the books of dangerous criminal organizations around the world that are experiencing internal embezzlement.
The Accountant (2016 film)
1607
The Accountant premiered in Los Angeles on October 10, 2016, and saw its European premiere in London on October 17.[4] The film was theatrically released in the United States by Warner Bros. Pictures on October 14, 2016. The film received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $155 million worldwide. In 2017, according to MPAA's end of year report, it is the top film for both disc and digital rentals.[5]
The Accountant (2016 film)
1608
A sequel is currently in development.
The Accountant (2016 film)
1609
As a child, Christian Wolff is diagnosed with a high-functioning form of autism at Harbor Neuroscience, where he meets the doctor's daughter, Justine. Chris's father declines the offer for his son to stay at a sensory friendly environment, believing that Chris must overcome the hardships inherent in his condition, but Chris's overwhelmed mother abandons their family. Afraid that others will exploit his son, Chris's father—a US Army PSYOP officer—begins a brutal regimen of stoicism and martial arts training for both him and his brother, Braxton.
The Accountant (2016 film)
1610
In the present, Chris works as a forensic accountant from a small strip mall office in Plainfield, Illinois. He unmasks insider financial deceptions, often for criminal and terrorist enterprises. Chris's clients interact with Chris through the Voice, an unidentified woman who calls him "Dreamboat". He exposes himself to loud music and flashing lights while abusing his own shinbone on a daily basis to inure himself to sensory overload.
The Accountant (2016 film)
1611
Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCen) Director Ray King pursues Chris, known to them as "the Accountant". King recruits Treasury data analyst Marybeth Medina to help him locate the Accountant. Her leads include Chris's cover names, a recording from his killing of nine members of the Gambino crime family, and some photos.
The Accountant (2016 film)
1612
Chris is hired to audit Living Robotics after the company's founder and CEO, Lamar Blackburn and his sister Rita, learn of discrepancies from in-house accountant Dana Cummings. Chris finds that over $61 million has been embezzled from the company. CFO Ed Chilton, who is diabetic, is forced by a hitman to commit suicide from an insulin overdose. Lamar dismisses Chris, claiming Chilton killed himself because of the investigation of the embezzlement, leaving Chris very distraught because he cannot finish the audit.
The Accountant (2016 film)
1613
In a flashback scene, the extent of Chris and his brother's relentless martial arts training instilled by their father as a child is revealed, suggesting that he is an adept fighter in the present day.
The Accountant (2016 film)
1614
As a result of his superior self defense capabilities, assassins fail to kill Chris; the last reveals that Dana is the next target. Chris saves her before taking her to his storage unit, containing an Airstream Panamerica with artwork and other valuables, which he uses to quickly flee in when necessary. As they talk, he realizes that the embezzlement at Living Robotics is a scheme like Crazy Eddie's; money stolen from the company is returned to it, boosting profits and increasing the company's valuation as it prepares for an IPO. When Chris goes to confront Rita he finds her dead, exposing Lamar as the embezzler.
The Accountant (2016 film)
1615
Medina isolates Chris's voice from the recording of the Gambino killing, hearing him repeating the nursery rhyme Solomon Grundy. She learns that his cadence is reminiscent of those with autism, and that Chris's aliases are famed mathematicians, including his current identity, Christian Wolff. Using IRS records, she finds his Illinois office.
The Accountant (2016 film)
1616
Government agents search Chris's heavily secured home. King explains to Medina that Chris was imprisoned at Leavenworth because of a fight at his estranged mother's funeral, where his father was killed protecting Chris. He learned accounting from Francis Silverberg, a Gambino family accountant who became an FBI informant. King was Silverberg's handler, but his inaction led to the informant being brutally killed; King was staking out the Gambinos when Chris came to avenge his mentor. Chris could have killed King, but let him go after asking if he was a good father. King began getting information from the Voice when criminals violated Chris's moral code, and King became director of FinCen. King tells Medina someone has to take over when he retires. The phone rings, and the Voice tells Medina about Living Robotics.
The Accountant (2016 film)
1617
Chris goes to Lamar's mansion, where the hitman and his men await. During the battle, the hitman recognizes Chris repeating the nursery rhyme and reveals that he is Chris's brother Braxton; they have not seen each other since Chris's imprisonment. Braxton attacks Chris, as he is both resentful over his brother's estrangement from him and blames him for their father's death. During a pause in their fight Lamar arrogantly interrupts; Chris shoots him, ending the battle. Chris amicably agrees to meet Braxton in a week, saying he will find him.
The Accountant (2016 film)
1618
As another set of parents visits Harbor Neuroscience with their child, the boy meets Justine, still a patient there; she is the Voice, and Chris funds the center with his bookkeeping profits. Dana receives a Jackson Pollock painting she saw in the trailer, as Chris drives out of town with the Airstream in tow.
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On November 12, 2014, Variety reported that Anna Kendrick was in early talks to co-star in the film, alongside Affleck.[6] Later that day, J. K. Simmons was also announced as being in talks to join the cast.[7] On November 14, 2014, Jon Bernthal was also in talks.[8] On January 6, 2015, Variety reported that Cynthia Addai-Robinson was added to the cast.[9] On January 14, 2015, Jeffrey Tambor[10] and John Lithgow[11] were added to the cast of the film. Lithgow had previously appeared in another thriller about autism, Silent Fall (1994).
The Accountant (2016 film)
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Filming began on January 19, 2015 in Atlanta, Georgia.[12][13] On March 16–20, filming was taking place at the Georgia Institute of Technology.[14] The film ends with the Accountant driving on Bethany Bridge over Lake Allatoona, Georgia.
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The action fighting sequences in the film featured the Indonesian martial art Pencak Silat.[15][16][17]
The Accountant (2016 film)
1622
On July 9, 2015, a year before the film's release, it had received graphic novelization published by Vertigo, a limited comic book imprint owned by Warner Bros. Pictures.[18]
The Accountant (2016 film)
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The film was released on October 14, 2016.[19] Before that, Warner Bros. had scheduled it for January 29, 2016, later moving it to October 7, 2016, before moving it back another week.[20][21]
The Accountant (2016 film)
1624
The Accountant grossed $86.3 million in the United States and Canada and $68.9 million in other countries for a worldwide total of $155.2 million, against a production budget of $44 million.[2]
The Accountant (2016 film)
1625
The Accountant was released alongside Max Steel and Kevin Hart: What Now?, and was expected to gross $20–25 million from 3,332 theaters in its opening weekend, although the studio was projecting a conservative $15 million opening.[22] The film made $1.35 million from its Thursday night previews, more than Affleck's Gone Girl ($1.2 million) in 2014. It grossed $9.1 million on its first day and $24.7 million in its opening weekend, finishing first at the box office and was the second highest-debut for a thriller of Affleck's career, behind Gone Girl ($37.5 million).[23] In its second weekend, the film grossed $13.6 million (a drop of 44.8%), finishing 4th at the box office.[24]
The Accountant (2016 film)
1626
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 52% based on 254 reviews, with an average rating of 5.7/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "The Accountant writes off a committed performance from Ben Affleck, leaving viewers with a scattershot action thriller beset by an array of ill-advised deductions."[25] On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating, the film has a weighted average score of 51 out of 100, based on 45 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[26] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale,[27] while comScore reported audiences gave an 84% overall positive score and a 64% definite recommend.[23]
The Accountant (2016 film)
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Vince Mancini of Uproxx gave the film a positive review, writing, "It’s transparent in its attempt both to pimp a future franchise and give autistic kids their own superhero. There’s a genuine sweetness to the latter that converts me on the former. Headshots, math problems, and pained social interactions? Sign me up. Of the two movies Ben Affleck has been in so far this year, The Accountant and Batman V Superman, The Accountant has by far the most franchise potential."[28] Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 3.5 out of 4 stars, saying: "Madness abounds in The Accountant, an intense, intricate, darkly amusing and action-infused thriller that doesn’t always add up but who cares, it’s BIG FUN."[29]
The Accountant (2016 film)
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Richard Brody of The New Yorker panned the film, stating: "This thrill-free thriller...piles up plotlines like an overbuilt house of cards that comes crashing down at the first well-earned guffaw of ridicule."[30]
The Accountant (2016 film)
1629
In June 2017, it was announced Warner Bros. was developing a sequel, with Affleck, Dubuque and O’Connor all scheduled to return.[33]
The Accountant (2016 film)
1630
Winnie-the-Pooh, also called Pooh Bear, is a fictional anthropomorphic teddy bear created by English author A. A. Milne.
Winnie-the-Pooh
1631
The first collection of stories about the character was the book Winnie-the-Pooh (1926), and this was followed by The House at Pooh Corner (1928). Milne also included a poem about the bear in the children's verse book When We Were Very Young (1924) and many more in Now We Are Six (1927). All four volumes were illustrated by E. H. Shepard.
Winnie-the-Pooh
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The Pooh stories have been translated into many languages, including Alexander Lenard's Latin translation, Winnie ille Pu, which was first published in 1958, and, in 1960, became the only Latin book ever to have been featured on The New York Times Best Seller list.[1]
Winnie-the-Pooh
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Hyphens in the character's name were dropped by Disney when the company adapted the Pooh stories into a series of features that became one of its most successful franchises.
Winnie-the-Pooh
1634
In popular film adaptations, Pooh Bear has been voiced by actors Sterling Holloway, Hal Smith, and Jim Cummings in English, and Yevgeny Leonov in Russian.
Winnie-the-Pooh
1635
A. A. Milne named the character Winnie-the-Pooh after a teddy bear owned by his son, Christopher Robin Milne, who was the basis for the character Christopher Robin. The rest of Christopher Robin Milne's toys – Piglet, Eeyore, Kanga, Roo, and Tigger – were incorporated into Milne's stories.[2][3] Two more characters, Owl and Rabbit, were created by Milne's imagination, while Gopher was added to the Disney version. Christopher Robin's toy bear is on display at the Main Branch of the New York Public Library in New York City.[4]
Winnie-the-Pooh
1636
Christopher Milne had named his toy bear after Winnie, a Canadian black bear he often saw at London Zoo, and "Pooh", a swan they had met while on holiday. The bear cub was purchased from a hunter for $20 by Canadian Lieutenant Harry Colebourn in White River, Ontario, Canada, while en route to England during the First World War.[5] He named the bear "Winnie" after his adopted hometown in Winnipeg, Manitoba. "Winnie" was surreptitiously brought to England with her owner, and gained unofficial recognition as The Fort Garry Horse regimental mascot. Colebourn left Winnie at the London Zoo while he and his unit were in France; after the war she was officially donated to the zoo, as she had become a much loved attraction there.[6] Pooh the swan appears as a character in its own right in When We Were Very Young.
Winnie-the-Pooh
1637
In the first chapter of Winnie-the-Pooh, Milne offers this explanation of why Winnie-the-Pooh is often called simply "Pooh":
Winnie-the-Pooh
1638
But his arms were so stiff ... they stayed up straight in the air for more than a week, and whenever a fly came and settled on his nose he had to blow it off. And I think – but I am not sure – that that is why he is always called Pooh.
Winnie-the-Pooh
1639
The American writer William Safire surmised that the Milnes' invention of the name "Winnie the Pooh" may have also been influenced by the haughty character Pooh-Bah in Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado (1885).[7]
Winnie-the-Pooh
1640
The Winnie-the-Pooh stories are set in Ashdown Forest, East Sussex, England. The forest is a large area of tranquil open heathland on the highest sandy ridges of the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty situated 30 miles (50 km) south of London. In 1925 Milne, a Londoner, bought a country home a mile to the north of the forest at Cotchford Farm, near Hartfield. According to Christopher Milne, while his father continued to live in London "...the four of us – he, his wife, his son and his son's nanny – would pile into a large blue, chauffeur-driven Fiat and travel down every Saturday morning and back again every Monday afternoon. And we would spend a whole glorious month there in the spring and two months in the summer."[8] From the front lawn the family had a view across a meadow to a line of alders that fringed the River Medway, beyond which the ground rose through more trees until finally "above them, in the faraway distance, crowning the view, was a bare hilltop. In the centre of this hilltop was a clump of pines." Most of his father's visits to the forest at this time were, he noted, family expeditions on foot "to make yet another attempt to count the pine trees on Gill's Lap or to search for the marsh gentian". Christopher added that, inspired by Ashdown Forest, his father had made it "the setting for two of his books, finishing the second little over three years after his arrival".[9]
Winnie-the-Pooh
1641
Many locations in the stories can be linked to real places in and around the forest. As Christopher Milne wrote in his autobiography: "Pooh’s forest and Ashdown Forest are identical". For example, the fictional "Hundred Acre Wood" was in reality Five Hundred Acre Wood; Galleon's Leap was inspired by the prominent hilltop of Gill's Lap, while a clump of trees just north of Gill's Lap became Christopher Robin's The Enchanted Place because no-one had ever been able to count whether there were sixty-three or sixty-four trees in the circle.[10]
Winnie-the-Pooh
1642
The landscapes depicted in E. H. Shepard's illustrations for the Winnie-the-Pooh books were directly inspired by the distinctive landscape of Ashdown Forest, with its high, open heathlands of heather, gorse, bracken and silver birch punctuated by hilltop clumps of pine trees. Many of Shepard's illustrations can be matched to actual views, allowing for a degree of artistic licence. Shepard's sketches of pine trees and other forest scenes are held at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.[11]
Winnie-the-Pooh
1643
The game of Poohsticks was originally played by Christopher Milne on a footbridge across a tributary of the River Medway in Posingford Wood, close to Cotchford Farm. The wooden bridge is now a tourist attraction, and it has become traditional to play the game there using sticks gathered in nearby woodland.[12][13] When the footbridge recently had to be replaced, the engineer designed a new structure based closely on the drawings of the bridge by Shepard in the books, which were somewhat different than the original structure.
Winnie-the-Pooh
1644
Christopher Robin's teddy bear, Edward, made his character début in A. A. Milne's poem, "Teddy Bear", in the edition of 13 February 1924 of Punch, and the same poem was published in Milne's book of children's verse When We Were Very Young (6 November 1924).[14] Winnie-the-Pooh first appeared by name on 24 December 1925, in a Christmas story commissioned and published by the London newspaper The Evening News. It was illustrated by J. H. Dowd.[15]
Winnie-the-Pooh
1645
The first collection of Pooh stories appeared in the book Winnie-the-Pooh. The Evening News Christmas story reappeared as the first chapter of the book. At the beginning, it explained that Pooh was in fact Christopher Robin's Edward Bear, who had been renamed by the boy. He was renamed after a black bear at London Zoo called Winnie who got her name from the fact that her owner had come from Winnipeg, Canada. The book was published in October 1926 by the publisher of Milne's earlier children's work, Methuen, in England, and E. P. Dutton in the United States.[16]
Winnie-the-Pooh
1646
In the Milne books, Pooh is naive and slow-witted, but he is also friendly, thoughtful, and steadfast. Although he and his friends agree that he "has no Brain", Pooh is occasionally acknowledged to have a clever idea, usually driven by common sense. These include riding in Christopher Robin's umbrella to rescue Piglet from a flood, discovering "the North Pole" by picking it up to help fish Roo out of the river, inventing the game of Poohsticks, and getting Eeyore out of the river by dropping a large rock on one side of him to wash him towards the bank.
Winnie-the-Pooh
1647
Pooh is also a talented poet, and the stories are frequently punctuated by his poems and "hums." Although he is humble about his slow-wittedness, he is comfortable with his creative gifts. When Owl's house blows down in a storm, trapping Pooh and Piglet and Owl inside, Pooh encourages Piglet (the only one small enough to do so) to escape and rescue them all by promising that "a respectful Pooh song" will be written about Piglet's feat. Later, Pooh muses about the creative process as he composes the song.
Winnie-the-Pooh
1648
Pooh is very fond of food, especially "hunny" but also condensed milk and other items. When he visits friends, his desire to be offered a snack is in conflict with the impoliteness of asking too directly. Though intending to give Eeyore a pot of honey for his birthday, Pooh cannot resist eating the honey on his way to deliver the present, and so instead gives Eeyore "a useful pot to put things in". When he and Piglet are lost in the forest during Rabbit's attempt to "unbounce" Tigger, Pooh finds his way home by following the "call" of the honeypots from his house. Pooh makes it a habit to have "a little something" around eleven o'clock in the morning. As the clock in his house "stopped at five minutes to eleven some weeks ago," any time can be Pooh's snack time.
Winnie-the-Pooh
1649
Pooh is very social. After Christopher Robin, his closest friend is Piglet, and he most often chooses to spend his time with one or both of them. But he also habitually visits the other animals, often looking for a snack or an audience for his poetry as much as for companionship. His kind-heartedness means he goes out of his way to be friendly to Eeyore, visiting him and bringing him a birthday present and building him a house, despite receiving mostly disdain from Eeyore in return.
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1650
An authorised sequel Return to the Hundred Acre Wood was published on 5 October 2009. The author, David Benedictus, has developed, but not changed, Milne's characterisations. The illustrations, by Mark Burgess, are in the style of Shepard.[17]
Winnie-the-Pooh
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Another authorised sequel, The Best Bear in All the World, was published by Egmont in 2016. The sequel consists of four short stories by four leading children's authors, Kate Saunders, Brian Sibley, Paul Bright, and Jeanne Willis. Illustrations are by Mark Burgess.[18] The Best Bear in All The World sees the introduction of a new character, a Penguin, which was inspired by a long-lost photograph of Milne and his son Christopher with a toy penguin.[19] A further special story, Winnie-the-Pooh Meets the Queen, was published in 2016 to mark the 90th anniversary of Milne's creation and the 90th birthday of Elizabeth II. It sees Winnie the Pooh meet the Queen at Buckingham Palace.[20]
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1652
On 6 January 1930, Stephen Slesinger purchased US and Canadian merchandising, television, recording and other trade rights to the "Winnie-the-Pooh" works from Milne for a $1000 advance and 66% of Slesinger's income, creating the modern licensing industry. By November 1931, Pooh was a $50 million-a-year business.[21] Slesinger marketed Pooh and his friends for more than 30 years, creating the first Pooh doll, record, board game, puzzle, US radio broadcast (NBC), animation, and motion picture film.[22]
Winnie-the-Pooh
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The first time Pooh and his friends appeared in colour was 1932, when he was drawn by Slesinger in his now-familiar red shirt and featured on an RCA Victor picture record. Parker Brothers introduced A. A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh Game in 1933, again with Pooh in his red shirt. In the 1940s, Agnes Brush created the first plush dolls with Pooh in his red shirt. Shepard had drawn Pooh with a shirt as early as the first Winnie-The-Pooh book, which was subsequently coloured red in later coloured editions.
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After Slesinger's death in 1953, his wife, Shirley Slesinger Lasswell, continued developing the character herself. In 1961, she licensed rights to Walt Disney Productions in exchange for royalties in the first of two agreements between Stephen Slesinger, Inc. and Disney.[23] The same year, A. A. Milne's widow, Daphne Milne, also licensed certain rights, including motion picture rights, to Disney.
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Since 1966, Disney has released numerous animated productions starring Winnie the Pooh and related characters. These have included theatrical featurettes, television series, and direct-to-video films, as well as the theatrical feature-length films The Tigger Movie, Piglet's Big Movie, Pooh's Heffalump Movie, and Winnie the Pooh.
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Pooh videos, soft toys, and other merchandise generate substantial annual revenues for Disney. The size of Pooh stuffed toys ranges from Beanie and miniature to human-sized. In addition to the stylised Disney Pooh, Disney markets Classic Pooh merchandise which more closely resembles E.H. Shepard's illustrations.
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In 1991, Stephen Slesinger, Inc. filed a lawsuit against Disney which alleged that Disney had breached their 1983 agreement by again failing to accurately report revenue from Winnie the Pooh sales. Under this agreement, Disney was to retain approximately 98% of gross worldwide revenues while the remaining 2% was to be paid to Slesinger. In addition, the suit alleged that Disney had failed to pay required royalties on all commercial exploitation of the product name.[24] Though the Disney corporation was sanctioned by a judge for destroying forty boxes of evidential documents,[25] the suit was later terminated by another judge when it was discovered that Slesinger's investigator had rummaged through Disney's garbage to retrieve the discarded evidence.[26] Slesinger appealed the termination and, on 26 September 2007, a three-judge panel upheld the lawsuit dismissal.[27]
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After the Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998, Clare Milne, Christopher Milne's daughter, attempted to terminate any future US copyrights for Stephen Slesinger, Inc.[28] After a series of legal hearings, Judge Florence-Marie Cooper of the US District Court in California found in favour of Stephen Slesinger, Inc., as did the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. On 26 June 2006, the US Supreme Court refused to hear the case, sustaining the ruling and ensuring the defeat of the suit.[29]
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On 19 February 2007 Disney lost a court case in Los Angeles which ruled their "misguided claims" to dispute the licensing agreements with Slesinger, Inc. were unjustified,[30] but a federal ruling of 28 September 2009, again from Judge Florence-Marie Cooper, determined that the Slesinger family had granted all trademarks and copyrights to Disney, although Disney must pay royalties for all future use of the characters. Both parties have expressed satisfaction with the outcome.[31][32]
Winnie-the-Pooh
1660
Selected Pooh stories read by Maurice Evans released on vinyl LP:
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In 1960 HMV recorded a dramatised version with songs (music by Harold Fraser-Simson) of two episodes from The House at Pooh Corner (Chapters 2 and 8), starring Ian Carmichael as Pooh, Denise Bryer as Christopher Robin (who also narrated), Hugh Lloyd as Tigger, Penny Morrell as Piglet, and Terry Norris as Eeyore. This was released on a 45 rpm EP.[34]
Winnie-the-Pooh
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In the 1970s and 1980s, Carol Channing recorded Winnie the Pooh, The House at Pooh Corner and The Winnie the Pooh Songbook, with music by Don Heckman. These were released on vinyl LP and audio cassette by Caedmon Records.
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Unabridged recordings read by Peter Dennis of the four Pooh books:
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1664
In 1979 a double audio cassette set of "Winnie the Pooh" was produced featuring British actor Lionel Jeffries reading all characters in the stories. This was followed in 1981 by an audio cassette set of stories from "House at Pooh Corner" also read by Lionel Jeffries.[35]
Winnie-the-Pooh
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In the 1990s, the stories were dramatised for audio by David Benedictus, with music composed, directed and played by John Gould. They were performed by a cast that included Stephen Fry as Winnie-the-Pooh, Jane Horrocks as Piglet, Geoffrey Palmer as Eeyore, and Judi Dench as Kanga.[36]
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1666
In the Soviet Union, three Winnie-the-Pooh, (transcribed in Russian as "Vinni Pukh") (Russian language: Винни-Пух) stories were made into a celebrated trilogy[40] of short films by Soyuzmultfilm (directed by Fyodor Khitruk) from 1969 to 1972.
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Films use Boris Zakhoder's translation of the book. Pooh was voiced by Yevgeny Leonov. Unlike the Disney adaptations, the animators did not base their depictions of the characters on Shepard's illustrations, creating a different look. The Soviet adaptations make extensive use of Milne's original text, and often bring out aspects of Milne's characters' personalities not used in the Disney adaptations.
Winnie-the-Pooh
1668
A version of Winnie The Pooh, in which the animals were played by marionettes designed, made and operated by Bil And Cora Baird, was presented on 3 October 1960, on NBC Television's The Shirley Temple Show. Pooh himself is voiced by Franz Fazakas.
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During the 1970s the BBC children's television show Jackanory serialised the two books, which were read by Willie Rushton.[41]
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Magical World of Winnie the Pooh (Note: These are episodes from The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh)
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(*): Puppet/live-action show
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These features integrate stories from The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and/or holiday specials with new footage.
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1673
Winnie the Pooh has inspired multiple texts to explain complex philosophical ideas. Benjamin Hoff used Milne's characters in The Tao of Pooh and The Te of Piglet to explain Taoism. Similarly, Frederick Crews wrote essays about the Pooh books in abstruse academic jargon in The Pooh Perplex and Postmodern Pooh to satirise a range of philosophical approaches.[43] Pooh and the Philosophers by John T. Williams uses Winnie the Pooh as a backdrop to illustrate the works of philosophers including Descartes, Kant, Plato, and Nietzsche.[44]
Winnie-the-Pooh
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One of the best known characters in British children's literature, a 2011 poll saw Winnie the Pooh voted onto the list of icons of England.[45] Forbes magazine ranked Pooh the most valuable fictional character in 2002, with merchandising products alone generating more than $5.9 billion that year.[46] In 2005, Pooh generated $6 billion, a figure surpassed by only Mickey Mouse.[47] In 2006, Pooh received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, marking the 80th birthday of Milne's creation.[47] The bear is such a popular character in Poland that a Warsaw street is named for him, Ulica Kubusia Puchatka. There is also a street named after him in Budapest (Micimackó utca).[48]
Winnie-the-Pooh
1675
In music, Kenny Loggins wrote the song "House at Pooh Corner", which was originally recorded by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.[49] Loggins later rewrote the song as "Return to Pooh Corner", featuring on the album of the same name in 1991. In Italy, a pop band took their name from Winnie, and were titled Pooh. In Estonia there is a punk/metal band called Winny Puhh.
Winnie-the-Pooh
1676
In the "sport" of Poohsticks, competitors drop sticks into a stream from a bridge and then wait to see whose stick will cross the finish line first. Though it began as a game played by Pooh and his friends in the book The House at Pooh Corner and later in the films, it has crossed over into the real world: a World Championship Poohsticks race takes place in Oxfordshire each year. Ashdown Forest in England where the Pooh stories are set is a popular tourist attraction, and includes the wooden Pooh Bridge where Pooh and Piglet invented Poohsticks.[50] The Oxford University Winnie the Pooh Society was founded by undergraduates in 1982.
Winnie-the-Pooh
1677
In the Peoples Republic of China, images of Pooh were censored in mid-2017 from social media websites, when internet memes comparing Chinese president Xi Jinping to Pooh became popular.[51]
Winnie-the-Pooh
1678
An electron transport chain (ETC) is a series of complexes that transfer electrons from electron donors to electron acceptors via redox (both reduction and oxidation occurring simultaneously) reactions, and couples this electron transfer with the transfer of protons (H+ ions) across a membrane. This creates an electrochemical proton gradient that drives the synthesis of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), a molecule that stores energy chemically in the form of highly strained bonds. The molecules of the chain include peptides, enzymes (which are proteins or protein complexes), and others. The final acceptor of electrons in the electron transport chain during aerobic respiration is molecular oxygen although a variety of acceptors other than oxygen such as sulfate exist in anaerobic respiration.
Electron transport chain
1679
Electron transport chains are used for extracting energy via redox reactions from sunlight in photosynthesis or, such as in the case of the oxidation of sugars, cellular respiration. In eukaryotes, an important electron transport chain is found in the inner mitochondrial membrane where it serves as the site of oxidative phosphorylation through the use of ATP synthase. It is also found in the thylakoid membrane of the chloroplast in photosynthetic eukaryotes. In bacteria, the electron transport chain is located in their cell membrane.
Electron transport chain
1680
In chloroplasts, light drives the conversion of water to oxygen and NADP+ to NADPH with transfer of H+ ions across chloroplast membranes. In mitochondria, it is the conversion of oxygen to water, NADH to NAD+ and succinate to fumarate that are required to generate the proton gradient.
Electron transport chain
1681
Electron transport chains are major sites of premature electron leakage to oxygen, generating superoxide and potentially resulting in increased oxidative stress.
Electron transport chain
1682
The electron transport chain consists of a spatially separated series of redox reactions in which electrons are transferred from a donor molecule to an acceptor molecule. The underlying force driving these reactions is the Gibbs free energy of the reactants and products. The Gibbs free energy is the energy available ("free") to do work. Any reaction that decreases the overall Gibbs free energy of a system is thermodynamically spontaneous.
Electron transport chain
1683
The function of the electron transport chain is to produce a transmembrane proton electrochemical gradient as a result of the redox reactions.[1] If protons flow back through the membrane, they enable mechanical work, such as rotating bacterial flagella. ATP synthase, an enzyme highly conserved among all domains of life, converts this mechanical work into chemical energy by producing ATP,[2] which powers most cellular reactions. A small amount of ATP is available from substrate-level phosphorylation, for example, in glycolysis. In most organisms the majority of ATP is generated in electron transport chains, while only some obtain ATP by fermentation.[citation needed]
Electron transport chain
1684
Most eukaryotic cells have mitochondria, which produce ATP from products of the citric acid cycle, fatty acid oxidation, and amino acid oxidation. At the mitochondrial inner membrane, electrons from NADH and FADH2 pass through the electron transport chain to oxygen, which is reduced to water. The electron transport chain comprises an enzymatic series of electron donors and acceptors. Each electron donor will pass electrons to a more electronegative acceptor, which in turn donates these electrons to another acceptor, a process that continues down the series until electrons are passed to oxygen, the most electronegative and terminal electron acceptor in the chain. Passage of electrons between donor and acceptor releases energy, which is used to generate a proton gradient across the mitochondrial membrane by actively "pumping" protons into the intermembrane space, producing a thermodynamic state that has the potential to do work. The entire process is called oxidative phosphorylation, since ADP is phosphorylated to ATP using the energy of hydrogen oxidation in many steps.
Electron transport chain
1685
A small percentage of electrons do not complete the whole series and instead directly leak to oxygen, resulting in the formation of the free-radical superoxide, a highly reactive molecule that contributes to oxidative stress and has been implicated in a number of diseases and aging.
Electron transport chain
1686
Energy obtained through the transfer of electrons down the ETC is used to pump protons from the mitochondrial matrix into the intermembrane space, creating an electrochemical proton gradient (ΔpH) across the inner mitochondrial membrane (IMM). This proton gradient is largely but not exclusively responsible for the mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨM). It allows ATP synthase to use the flow of H+ through the enzyme back into the matrix to generate ATP from adenosine diphosphate (ADP) and inorganic phosphate. Complex I (NADH coenzyme Q reductase; labeled I) accepts electrons from the Krebs cycle electron carrier nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH), and passes them to coenzyme Q (ubiquinone; labeled Q), which also receives electrons from complex II (succinate dehydrogenase; labeled II). Q passes electrons to complex III (cytochrome bc1 complex; labeled III), which passes them to cytochrome c (cyt c). Cyt c passes electrons to Complex IV (cytochrome c oxidase; labeled IV), which uses the electrons and hydrogen ions to reduce molecular oxygen to water.
Electron transport chain
1687
Four membrane-bound complexes have been identified in mitochondria. Each is an extremely complex transmembrane structure that is embedded in the inner membrane. Three of them are proton pumps. The structures are electrically connected by lipid-soluble electron carriers and water-soluble electron carriers. The overall electron transport chain:
Electron transport chain
1688
In Complex I (NADH:ubiquinone oxidoreductase, NADH-CoQ reductase, or NADH dehydrogenase; EC 1.6.5.3), two electrons are removed from NADH and ultimately transferred to a lipid-soluble carrier, ubiquinone (UQ). The reduced product, ubiquinol (UQH2), freely diffuses within the membrane, and Complex I translocates four protons (H+) across the membrane, thus producing a proton gradient. Complex I is one of the main sites at which premature electron leakage to oxygen occurs, thus being one of the main sites of production of superoxide.[3]
Electron transport chain
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The pathway of electrons is as follows:
Electron transport chain
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NADH is oxidized to NAD+, by reducing Flavin mononucleotide to FMNH2 in one two-electron step. FMNH2 is then oxidized in two one-electron steps, through a semiquinone intermediate. Each electron thus transfers from the FMNH2 to an Fe-S cluster, from the Fe-S cluster to ubiquinone (Q). Transfer of the first electron results in the free-radical (semiquinone) form of Q, and transfer of the second electron reduces the semiquinone form to the ubiquinol form, QH2. During this process, four protons are translocated from the mitochondrial matrix to the intermembrane space. [4] As the electrons become continuously oxidized and reduced throughout the complex an electron current is produced along the 180 Angstrom width of the complex within the membrane. This current powers the active transport of four protons to the intermembrane space per two electrons from NADH.[5]
Electron transport chain
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In Complex II (succinate dehydrogenase or succinate-CoQ reductase; EC 1.3.5.1) additional electrons are delivered into the quinone pool (Q) originating from succinate and transferred (via flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD)) to Q. Complex II consists of four protein subunits: succinate dehydrogenase, (SDHA); succinate dehydrogenase [ubiquinone] iron-sulfur subunit, mitochondrial, (SDHB); succinate dehydrogenase complex subunit C, (SDHC) and succinate dehydrogenase complex, subunit D, (SDHD). Other electron donors (e.g., fatty acids and glycerol 3-phosphate) also direct electrons into Q (via FAD). Complex 2 is a parallel electron transport pathway to complex 1, but unlike complex 1, no protons are transported to the intermembrane space in this pathway. Therefore, the pathway through complex 2 contributes less energy to the overall electron transport chain process.
Electron transport chain
1692
In Complex III (cytochrome bc1 complex or CoQH2-cytochrome c reductase; EC 1.10.2.2), the Q-cycle contributes to the proton gradient by an asymmetric absorption/release of protons. Two electrons are removed from QH2 at the QO site and sequentially transferred to two molecules of cytochrome c, a water-soluble electron carrier located within the intermembrane space. The two other electrons sequentially pass across the protein to the Qi site where the quinone part of ubiquinone is reduced to quinol. A proton gradient is formed by one quinol (2H+2e-) oxidations at the Qo site to form one quinone (2H+2e-) at the Qi site. (in total four protons are translocated: two protons reduce quinone to quinol and two protons are released from two ubiquinol molecules).
Electron transport chain
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When electron transfer is reduced (by a high membrane potential or respiratory inhibitors such as antimycin A), Complex III may leak electrons to molecular oxygen, resulting in superoxide formation.
Electron transport chain
1694
In Complex IV (cytochrome c oxidase; EC 1.9.3.1), sometimes called cytochrome AA3, four electrons are removed from four molecules of cytochrome c and transferred to molecular oxygen (O2), producing two molecules of water. At the same time, eight protons are removed from the mitochondrial matrix (although only four are translocated across the membrane), contributing to the proton gradient. The activity of cytochrome c oxidase is inhibited by cyanide.
Electron transport chain
1695
According to the chemiosmotic coupling hypothesis, proposed by Nobel Prize in Chemistry winner Peter D. Mitchell, the electron transport chain and oxidative phosphorylation are coupled by a proton gradient across the inner mitochondrial membrane. The efflux of protons from the mitochondrial matrix creates an electrochemical gradient (proton gradient). This gradient is used by the FOF1 ATP synthase complex to make ATP via oxidative phosphorylation. ATP synthase is sometimes described as Complex V of the electron transport chain.[6] The FO component of ATP synthase acts as an ion channel that provides for a proton flux back into the mitochondrial matrix. It is composed of a, b and c subunits. Protons in the inter-membranous space of mitochondria first enters the ATP synthase complex through a subunit channel. Then protons move to the c subunits.[7] The number of c subunits it has determines how many protons it will require to make the FO turn one full revolution. For example, in humans, there are 8 c subunits, thus 8 protons are required.[8] After c subunits, protons finally enters matrix using a subunit channel that opens into the mitochondrial matrix.[7] This reflux releases free energy produced during the generation of the oxidized forms of the electron carriers (NAD+ and Q). The free energy is used to drive ATP synthesis, catalyzed by the F1 component of the complex.[9] Coupling with oxidative phosphorylation is a key step for ATP production. However, in specific cases, uncoupling the two processes may be biologically useful. The uncoupling protein, thermogenin—present in the inner mitochondrial membrane of brown adipose tissue—provides for an alternative flow of protons back to the inner mitochondrial matrix. This alternative flow results in thermogenesis rather than ATP production.[10] Synthetic uncouplers (e.g., 2,4-dinitrophenol) also exist, and, at high doses, are lethal.[citation needed]
Electron transport chain
1696
In the mitochondrial electron transport chain electrons move from an electron donor (NADH or QH2) to a terminal electron acceptor (O2) via a series of redox reactions. These reactions are coupled to the creation of a proton gradient across the mitochondrial inner membrane. There are three proton pumps: I, III, and IV. The resulting transmembrane proton gradient is used to make ATP via ATP synthase.
Electron transport chain
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The reactions catalyzed by Complex I and Complex III work roughly at equilibrium. This means that these reactions are readily reversible, by increasing the concentration of the products relative to the concentration of the reactants (for example, by increasing the proton gradient). ATP synthase is also readily reversible. Thus ATP can be used to build a proton gradient, which in turn can be used to make NADH. This process of reverse electron transport is important in many prokaryotic electron transport chains.[11]
Electron transport chain
1698
In eukaryotes, NADH is the most important electron donor. The associated electron transport chain is
Electron transport chain
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NADH → Complex I → Q → Complex III → cytochrome c → Complex IV → O2 where Complexes I, III and IV are proton pumps, while Q and cytochrome c are mobile electron carriers. The electron acceptor is molecular oxygen.
Electron transport chain