Assistant St. Paul Fire Chief Greg Duren, one of the longest-serving paramedics in the department’s history, will serve as the city’s interim fire chief, Mayor Melvin Carter announced Tuesday.

Chief Butch Inks retired Tuesday after serving 31 years as a St. Paul firefighter and Duren takes over on Wednesday.

Greg Duren (Courtesy of the St. Paul Fire Department)

Inks and Duren joined the St. Paul Fire Department together in 1994.

Duren has served in every rank in the department. He was appointed deputy fire chief in spring 2024 and has served as assistant fire chief of Emergency Medical Services since August, supporting operations for the state’s busiest fire department-based EMS system.

Inks was fire chief since 2019 and Carter announced in July he’d appointed him to a second, six-year term.

Inks has said his decision to retire was not about the election of a new mayor, but about being able to continue doing the physical work of a firefighter after shoulder-replacement surgery in November.

He originally injured his shoulder while working at a major fire when he was a captain. Though Inks is no longer putting out fires, he said he believes St. Paul’s fire chief should be able to carry out all the duties of a firefighter.

New mayor to decide on next fire chief

Carter worked closely with Mayor-elect Kaohly Her when appointing Duren, according to Carter’s office. Her’s inauguration is Friday.

Duren will serve as interim chief as Her’s administration works to appoint a permanent fire chief. He said he doesn’t plan to apply for the job.

Her “is committed to a fair and transparent process for determining the next fire chief,” said Matt Wagenius, Her’s campaign and transition team spokesperson. She felt strongly that the interim chief shouldn’t be someone seeking the permanent position, according to Wagenius.

Duren comes from a St. Paul firefighting family. His father worked for the department for 20 years and retired as fire captain in 2000; his brother is a captain who’s worked for the department for 14 years.

“Interim Chief Duren leads with a people-first mindset, prioritizing both the residents of St. Paul and the members of this department,” Carter said in a statement. “I am confident he will guide the fire department with integrity, compassion, and a steadfast commitment to keeping our community safe during this transition.”

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Six months after surviving an assassination attempt, state Sen. John Hoffman announced on Monday that he is seeking reelection in 2026.

John Hoffman. (Courtesy of John Hoffman)

The Democrat from Champlin is seeking a fifth term in the Senate.

“Minnesotans are tired of the vitriol,” He wrote in a Facebook post on Monday. “We have seen first hand where hate and dehumanization can lead. My family survived it. Leadership matters. Decency matters. Speaking up matters. If you believe in a Minnesota rooted in dignity, compassion, and courage and want to help push back against the noise, your donation makes a difference.”

On June 14, Hoffman was shot nine times in his home in Champlin, the same night Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, were fatally shot in what authorities say were politically motivated attacks.

Hoffman was discharged from the ICU on July 8 and made his first public appearance at the Democratic National Committee meeting on Aug. 25. His wife, Yvette, was also shot eight times and survived, and his daughter, Hope, was home and was not shot, though she has since spoken out about the emotional trauma she endured.

Sen. John Hoffman, right, and wife Yvette Hoffman. (Courtesy of the Hoffman family)

“Though I was not shot physically, I will now forever coexist with the PTSD of watching my parents be nearly shot dead in front of me and seeing my life flash before my eyes with a gun in my face,” Hope wrote in a statement in July.

The trial timeline for the man charged in the Minnesota lawmaker shootings, Vance Boelter, is still unclear. A status conference pushed deadlines a bit further into 2026, and also shed no light on whether the federal government would be seeking the death penalty. The next status conference for Boelter is Feb. 20.

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Not all the good ones win Oscars.

The Academy Awards race is shaping up, and Jessie Buckley (for “Hamnet”) and Leonardo DiCaprio (for “One Battle After Another”) are rightfully earning praise for turning in some of the year’s best movie work in some of the year’s best movies.

But outside that awards bubble, there are plenty of other under-the-radar performances worthy of note, and we’re taking the time to celebrate them here. We don’t have any gold statues to give out, so a few words of acknowledgement and a tip of the cap will have to do.

Here are some of the year’s best movie performances that are outside of the Oscars picture, looking in.

Kevin O’Leary, ‘Marty Supreme’

Yes, the guy from “Shark Tank.” O’Leary is menacing in “Marty Supreme,” perfectly pitched as a foil to Timothée Chalamet’s Marty Mauser, at one point introducing himself as a vampire, and he’s so fiercely devilish in the role that you hardly question him for a second. He’s cutthroat on “Shark Tank,” too, but he’s a natural on screen, truly earning his nickname as “Mr. Wonderful.”

Dwayne Johnson, ‘The Smashing Machine’

The film’s anemic box office aside, “The Smashing Machine” is a transformative role for Dwayne Johnson, putting “The Rock” to bed and truly tapping into something internal as UFC fighter Mark Kerr. Johnson loses the suave charm that has become his signature and shows vulnerability, and humanity, like never before. Johnson has always been a star, but “The Smashing Machine” showed his potential as an actor.

Jonathan Majors, ‘Magazine Dreams’

Jonathan Majors in “Magazine Dreams.” (Briarcliff Entertainment/TNS)

Back when “Magazine Dreams” premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2023, Jonathan Majors’ role as a bodybuilder who goes off the deep end was being touted as his Oscar play. Then a lot of other things happened in Majors’ life (he was convicted of charges related to domestic violence) and this movie didn’t see the light of day until a micro release earlier this year, but the work is still scarily effective and deeply powerful, a reminder of his electrifying power on screen.

Sally Hawkins, ‘Bring Her Back’

From “Paddington” to Mike Leigh’s “Happy-Go-Lucky,” Sally Hawkins is a beam of light, illuminating everything and everyone around her with her bright, effervescent charm. In the Philippou brothers’ dark, dastardly “Bring Her Back,” she weaponizes that charm, going full heel as an evil foster mother performing wicked deeds on her adopted children. She’s the stuff of nightmares in the best possible way.

Conner O’Malley, ‘Friendship’

Conner O’Malley has been an unhinged comedy presence since he stole scenes in the first season of Tim Robinson’s “I Think You Should Leave” — he was the “Honk if You’re Horny” guy — and in “Friendship,” he has a volatile one-scene appearance where he takes what is already an unglued story and sends it even further into “WTF?” territory. He’s a fantastic comedy disruptor.

Elle Fanning, ‘Predator: Badlands’

Elle Fanning, left, and Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi in “Predator: Badlands.” (20th Century Studios/TNS)

One day I’ll stop talking about how much fun I had watching “Predator: Badlands,” but not today. And one of the reasons for that fun is Elle Fanning, who brings a wholly different energy to “Badlands” than this franchise has ever felt. As an android split at the waist, Fanning — who has a dual role in the film — brings a sense of bubbliness to “Predator” which, it turns out, was exactly what this chapter needed.

Danielle Deadwyler, ‘The Woman in the Yard’ and ’40 Acres’

Danielle Deadwyler, robbed of an Oscar nomination for 2022’s “Till,” gave a pair of sterling performances in two 2025 films that flew under the radar. As a widowed mother with an, er, presence sitting outside her home, she elevates the psychological thriller “The Woman in the Yard,” and in the post-apocalyptic thriller “40 Acres,” she brings grit and determination to a genre exercise. She’ll get that Oscar nomination soon.

Vincent Cassel, ‘The Shrouds’

David Cronenberg’s latest was an icy, pitch-black exercise in grief, and Vincent Cassel perfectly played Karsh, the innovator behind a new technology that lets the living watch their deceased loved ones decompose live via cam. The French actor was also basically playing a stand-in for Cronenberg, and he nailed the filmmaker’s sense of isolated remove, like a visitor among us who’s not quite one of us.

Julian McMahon, ‘The Surfer’

In Nicolas Cage’s latest psychological freakout, Julian McMahon played Scally, the creepily charismatic leader of a local surf clan who won’t let Cage’s unnamed character surf their waves. “Don’t live hee, don’t surf hee,” Scally tells him, in his thick Aussie accent. The “Nip/Tuck” vet is magnetic in a role that would end up being one of his last, as he died over the summer after a bout with cancer at the age of 56.

A$AP Rocky, ‘Highest 2 Lowest’ and ‘If I Had Legs I’d Kick You’

After going toe to toe with Denzel Washington in Spike Lee’s “Highest 2 Lowest” — the two exchanging bars in the crime thriller’s climactic rap battle scene is ridiculously entertaining — A$AP Rocky turns in a totally charming performance as the hotel neighbor of Rose Byrne’s spiraling mother in “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You.” The rapper’s got a new album due out in 2026, but the screen is where he’s shining brightest.

Archie Madekwe, ‘Lurker’

It’s not easy playing a convincing pop star on screen — just ask John Malkovich, who’s baffling performance as a supposedly charismatic pop megastar in “Opus” is just one of that film’s many problems — but Archie Madekwe’s turn as a rising L.A. pop singer in Alex Russell’s psychological thriller, and the way he wields his aura like a weapon, had viewers totally falling under his spell.

Dylan O’Brien, ‘Twinless’

“Maze Runner” star Dylan O’Brien has been on a hot streak of late, with his turn as Dan Aykroyd in “Saturday Night” grounding him in grown-up fare, and he’s outstanding in a double role as two very different twin brothers in James Sweeney’s dark thriller “Twinless.” The subtleties of his performance pop as you watch him transition between the two parts, and he’s an actor who’s only getting better with age.

Jason Momoa, ‘A Minecraft Movie’

From left, Jack Black, Jason Momoa and Sebastian Hansen in “A Minecraft Movie.” (Warner Bros. Pictures/TNS)

Jason Momoa seems like he’d be a cool dude to hang out with, but his charisma never quite translated to the screen, and he always seemed like he was winking to the audience before having earned the right to do so. As washed-up child video game champion Garrett “The Garbage Man” Garrison in “A Minecraft Movie,” he finally married the cool dude with the winking persona, and he was delightful in the part.

Jai Courtney, ‘Dangerous Animals’

Australian actor Jai Courtney had roles in the “Terminator” and “Die Hard” franchises — in “A Good Day to Die Hard,” he was John McClane’s son! — but he was always like fitting a square peg into a round hole. But he’s a blast as a psycho boat captain gone mad in this shark thriller, where he chews more scenery than a great white. Turns out the guy just needed some room to go a little bit crazy.

Pamela Anderson, ‘The Naked Gun’

Pamela Anderson as Beth Davenport in “The Naked Gun.” (Frank Masi/Paramount Pictures/TNS)

Pamela Anderson has a softness and a sweetness to her that makes you want to root for her, and as Beth Davenport — aka Miss Cherry Roosevelt Fat Bozo Chowing Spaghetti — in Akiva Schaffer’s “Naked Gun” reboot, Anderson displays her comic chops as well as her willingness to try anything for a laugh. A scene where she scat-raps at a jazz club is one of the funniest bits in a movie packed with hilarious moments.

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LOS ANGELES — As “Avatar: Fire and Ash” headed to the big screen this month, theater owners held their breath.

In an uneven year that saw two billion-dollar hits and a viral “chicken jockey” craze, but also a disastrous first quarter and a nearly 30-year-low at the October box office, the end of December was the last chance for theaters to make up ground.

But even James Cameron and the Na’vi — the latest “Avatar” film has already grossed more than $472 million globally — couldn’t save 2025 from a disappointing conclusion.

Box-office revenue in the U.S. and Canada is expected to total $8.87 billion for the year, up just 1.5% from last year’s disappointing $8.74 billion tally, according to movie data firm Comscore. More troubling is that 2025’s domestic box-office haul is projected to be down more than 20% compared with 2019, before the pandemic changed audiences’ movie-going habits and turbocharged streaming in ways that the exhibition industry is still grappling with.

The problem: Fewer people are buying movie tickets. Theatrical attendance is running below last year’s levels, with an estimated 760 million tickets sold as of Dec. 25, according to media and entertainment data firm EntTelligence. Last year, total ticket sales for 2024 exceeded 800 million.

Part of the explanation for the falloff in cinema revenue and admissions lies in the movies themselves.

Industry experts and theater owners say the quality and frequency of releases led to dips in the calendar that put extra pressure on the other movies to perform. Once-reliable genres such as comedies and dramas are facing a much tougher time in theaters, and female moviegoers — who came out in droves in 2023 for “Barbie” — were underserved in a year that largely skewed toward male-leaning blockbusters.

“It’s fair to say that 2025 didn’t quite reach the levels many of us expected at the start of the year,” Eduardo Acuna, chief executive of Regal Cineworld, said in a statement. “A big part of that comes down to a lack of depth in the release schedule, and the struggle of many smaller titles to break through.”

Even big-name stars such as Margot Robbie, Colin Farrell, Dwayne Johnson and Sydney Sweeney couldn’t prop up attendance for films such as Sony Pictures’ “A Big Bold Beautiful Journey,” A24’s “The Smashing Machine” and Black Bear Pictures’ “Christy,” all of which flopped.

And despite the critical acclaim and stacked cast list for Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another,” the film has stalled domestically at $71 million, with a global total of $205 million.

“One Battle After Another” had a budget of about $130 million, while “The Smashing Machine” reportedly cost $50 million and has grossed just $21 million worldwide.

“The challenge facing Hollywood is how to reconcile the budgets of these films with how much they can earn in theaters and down the road, eventually, in streaming,” said Paul Dergarabedian, head of marketplace trends at Comscore.

Universal Pictures’ “Wicked: For Good” hauled in more than $324 million, but it was one of few big blockbusters targeted to women. (Taylor Swift’s “The Official Release Party of a Showgirl,” which brought in $50 million globally, was another.)

Though the summer was marked by a number of big films, including Warner Bros.-owned DC Studios’ “Superman,” Universal’s “Jurassic World Rebirth” and Apple’s “F1 The Movie,” most were geared toward male audiences.

Female-focused films are “are few and far between,” said Jeff Bock, senior box-office analyst at Exhibitor Relations, an entertainment data and research firm. “There should be something for everyone playing most of the time, and that isn’t the case.”

To be sure, there were some bright spots for the industry, including success from young audiences.

Warner Bros. Pictures’ “A Minecraft Movie” was the highest-grossing domestic film this year, with $423.9 million. Close behind was Walt Disney Co.’s live-action adaptation “Lilo & Stitch,” which collected $423.8 million in the U.S. and Canada and a total of $1 billion worldwide.

Counting those two, five of the year’s top 10 domestic-grossing films had PG ratings, including “Wicked: For Good,” Disney’s animated “Zootopia 2” and Universal’s live-action “How to Train Your Dragon.”

“In general, the good news about the year is that most of the big hits involved young audiences,” said Tom Rothman, chair and CEO chief executive of Sony Pictures’ motion picture group. “There is a bit of a youth-quake.”

Disney capitalized on the big year for family-friendly fare.

The Burbank entertainment giant recently crossed $6 billion at the global box office for the year, powered by billion-dollar hits such as “Lilo & Stitch” and “Zootopia 2,” and marking the company’s biggest year since 2019. (Though it wasn’t all sunny for Disney this year, as Pixar’s original animated film “Elio” misfired, as did the live-action film, “Snow White,” which was mired in controversy.)

Another notable youth driver was “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle” from Sony Pictures in partnership with its anime banner, Crunchyroll. The film had a massive opening weekend haul of $70 million in July on its way to a domestic gross of $134 million and a global total of $715 million, highlighting the increasing popularity of anime.

“The mainstreaming of anime at the theatrical box office is a really significant part of what happened this year and a really good sign,” Rothman said. “You’re bringing in young audiences.”

Not surprisingly, established intellectual property — whether video games, known franchises, novels or comic books — still topped the charts this year, with nine of the top 10 domestic films tied to an existing title.

That familiarity at the box office counts when moviegoers, particularly families, are looking for movies to watch. Viewers can be choosy about how they spend their cash and time, and may not always want to gamble on a movie they’ve never heard of.

“Meaningful IP still has an advantage in getting people to come to the theater, though it’s not the only way to do it,” said Adam Fogelson, chair of Lionsgate’s motion picture group, which saw success this year with an adaptation of Stephen King’s novel “The Long Walk,” as well as franchise film “Now You See Me: Now You Don’t.”

Horror flicks also scared up plenty of business in 2025. Warner Bros., in particular, had a string of wins in fearful films, including Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners,” “The Conjuring: Last Rites,” Zach Cregger’s “Weapons” and “Final Destination Bloodlines.”

In one notable exception, Blumhouse had a rare miss with “M3GAN 2.0,” the follow-up to the 2022 cult favorite. In an interview on “The Town” podcast, Blumhouse Productions Chief Executive Jason Blum blamed the sequel’s shortcomings on a change in genre from the original.

As 2025 draws to a close, industry insiders and theater owners are more optimistic about next year’s box office prospects.

Several big films are set to release in 2026, including Christopher Nolan’s much anticipated “The Odyssey,” Disney and Marvel Studios’ “Avengers: Doomsday,” Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune: Part Three,” as well as Disney and Pixar’s “Toy Story 5” and “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” from Universal, Nintendo and Illumination Entertainment.

That anticipation is also clouded by the uncertainty of the impending Warner Bros. deal and what that will mean for movie releases.

Many cinema owners fear that a takeover by Netflix will limit or eliminate the theatrical exclusivity of Warner Bros. films, though Netflix executives have said they will honor the company’s current and future commitments to the big screen. And if Paramount were to buy the company, theatrical exhibitors fear that the number of films would decrease, leaving them with less content to show. (Paramount CEO David Ellison has said the company did not plan to release fewer movies.)

Any deal is expected to take at least a year to complete.

In the meantime, Hollywood will wait to see how strong the 2026 slate truly is.

“There are a lot of great titles out there, and that’s why people have been calling 2026 a return to form,” said Bock of Exhibitor Relations. “Even though 2026 is very promising, can Hollywood keep delivering year-in and year-out?”

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