Pics du jour

🌍 Countries at COP29 reached a delayed agreement on climate financing. As part of the new deal, which was finalized early Sunday after negotiations ran 33 hours late, richer countries (twelve, including the US) promised to increase funding to help poorer countries fight climate change from $100 billion/year to $300 billion/year by 2035. The agreement drew criticism from developing countries, who had been seeking $1.3 trillion/year. The countries’ request is reflected in the COP29 deal as a non-binding call to meet that level of financing by 2035, using both public and private sources.

✂️ MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow is taking a pay cut. Per The Ankler ($): The Rachel Maddow Show host will receive $25 million/year over the next five years, down from $30 million/year previously, amid a ratings decline. The network’s viewership is down 40% year-over-year, according to Nielsen data (despite Maddow being “ratings Viagra,” as one exec put it). Maddow’s deal, reportedly agreed to earlier in the fall, also comes as MSNBC parent-company Comcast is spinning off its cable assets – which, along with MSNBC, include CNBC, USA, E!, and the Golf Channel (but no NBC News).

🍿 “Glicked” powered the pre-Thanksgiving box office to its best performance in over a decade. At $55.5 million, Gladiator II marks Denzel Washington’s biggest domestic opening of his career, beating out American Gangster ($43.5 million) – while Wicked’s $114 million domestic opening marks the highest debut of a Broadway adaptation in cinematic history. The only other movie musicals to debut above $100 million were 2018’s Beauty and the Beast and 2019’s The Lion King, which both ended up grossing $1+ billion worldwide. Overall, the domestic box office generated $205 million, its best pre-Thanksgiving weekend figure since 2013 – which, since there’s usually carryover, bodes well for theaters this upcoming Thanksgiving weekend.