AP National Entertainment News

By JAKE COYLE AP Film Writer NEW YORK (AP) — “Zootopia 2” regained the No. 1 spot at the domestic box office with $26.3 million in its third weekend of release, according to studio estimates Sunday, as The Walt Disney Co. animated sequel became the year’s second film to gross $1 billion worldwide. With “Avatar:

By SUSAN HAIGH Associated Press WETHERSFIELD, Conn. (AP) — “Christmas at Pemberly Manor” and “Romance at Reindeer Lodge” may never make it to Oscar night, but legions of fans still love these sweet-yet-predictable holiday movies — and this season, many are making pilgrimages to where their favorite scenes were filmed. That’s because Connecticut — the

By HILLEL ITALIE AP National Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Haruki Murakami was in town last week to hear his words set to music and his praises literally sung. The 76-year-old Tokyo resident and perennial Nobel Prize candidate received a pair of honors in Manhattan for his long career as a storyteller, translator, critic and

BY SAMY MAGDY AND AHMED HATEM Associated Press LUXOR, Egypt (AP) — Egypt on Sunday revealed the revamp of two colossal statues of a prominent pharaoh in the southern city of Luxor, the latest in the government’s archaeological events that aim at drawing more tourists to the country. The giant alabaster statues, known as the

Comedian Amy Schumer says she and her husband, chef Chris Fischer, have decided to end their marriage. Schumer, an actress, author and writer, announced the planned split in a social media post on Friday. “Blah blah blah Chris and I have made the difficult decision to end our marriage after 7 years,” Schumer wrote. “We

By The Associated Press Comedy icon Dick Van Dyke celebrated his 100th birthday on Saturday, hitting the century mark some six decades after he sang and danced with Julie Andrews in “Mary Poppins” and starred in his self-titled sitcom. “The funniest thing is, it’s not enough,” Van Dyke said in an interview with ABC News

Actor Hailee Steinfeld and her husband, Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen, are expecting their first baby together. Steinfeld, known for her roles in “Hawkeye,” “Sinners” and the “Pitch Perfect” franchise, announced her pregnancy Friday in her Substack newsletter as part of a list of her favorite moments of the year. At the end of the

By TERRY TANG Associated Press Christine Choy, a trailblazer for Asian Americans in independent film and whose documentary on the fatal beating of Vincent Chin was nominated for an Academy Award, has died. She was 73. Choy died Sunday, according to a statement from JT Takagi, executive director of Third World Newsreel, a filmmaking collective

By MIKE SILVERMAN Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — It seems all but unthinkable today: A major TV network hires a famous composer to write an original opera and broadcasts it live in prime time on Christmas Eve. But it was a different world in the early days of television back in 1951 when Gian

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — “Black Box Diaries,” a documentary in which Japanese journalist Shiori Ito investigates her own sexual assault case and the barriers she faced in pursuing justice, has been screened widely abroad since its 2024 festival debut and earned an Oscar nomination early this year. It finally premiered in

By MARIA SHERMAN AP Music Writer New York (AP) — Jelly Roll is catching his breath. It’s not a metaphor. He’s running up a hill in South Texas when he answers The Associated Press’ phone call, part of his ongoing health transformation journey. “Endorphins are flying. I feel great,” he cheers. “It’s time to win

By MARIA SHERMAN AP Music Writer NEW YORK (AP) — “The Eras Tour was a lifetime within my life,” Taylor Swift told the room at a screening of the first two episodes of her new Disney+ docuseries, “The End of an Era.” “It feels insane.” Swift spoke to the small New York crowd on Tuesday

By DANICA KIRKA Associated Press LONDON (AP) — King Charles III will speak about his cancer diagnosis and recovery during a TV broadcast on Friday as the monarch continues to use his personal story to encourage others to get the early screening that can boost their chances of survival. The recorded message will be broadcast

By GIADA ZAMPANO and SALVATORE LAPORTA Associated Press NAPLES, Italy (AP) — At long last, vindication has arrived for an Oscar-winning composer who sought to prove he was just as capable of breathing life into Italy’s grand theaters as into gritty Hollywood films. On Friday night, Naples’ Teatro San Carlo staged Ennio Morricone’s only opera,

NEW YORK (AP) — A Hollywood director was convicted Thursday on charges that he scammed Netflix out of $11 million for a show that never materialized, while he instead used the cash for lavish purchases that included several Rolls-Royces, a Ferrari and about $1 million in mattresses and luxury bedding. Carl Erik Rinsch, best known

GENEVA (AP) — Swiss singer Nemo, who won the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest, has said they will return the winner’s trophy because Israel is being allowed to compete in the politically troubled pop music competition. In an Instagram video, Nemo held the microphone-shaped glass ornament and said “today I no longer feel like this trophy

GENEVA (AP) — Switzerland’s long-celebrated yodeling has received a response from the U.N. cultural agency: The Alpine tradition of chant and song is indeed worthy of classification in a list of the world’s cultural heritage. A committee of Paris-based UNESCO, meeting in New Delhi, on Thursday listed yodeling in its list of intangible cultural heritage.

By MIKE HOUSEHOLDER Associated Press ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — Researchers, documentary filmmakers and others will soon be able to get their hands on screenwriter and director Lawrence Kasdan’s papers at his alma mater, the University of Michigan. Archivists are about a quarter of the way through cataloging the 150-plus boxes of material that document

By ALICIA RANCILIO Associated Press If you’d rather stay in than brave the elements or deal with holiday crowds, it’s a great time to catch up on the year’s standout television shows. A number of titles got people watching and also talking. In no particular order, here are 10 shows that broke out in 2025.

By KELVIN CHAN AP Business Writer Disney is investing $1 billion in OpenAI and will bring characters such as Mickey Mouse, Cinderella and Luke Skywalker to the AI company’s Sora video generation tool, in a licensing deal that the two companies announced on Thursday. At the same time, Disney went after Google, demanding the tech

By JONATHAN LANDRUM Jr. AP Entertainment Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Crystal Hernández steadies her violin and scans the crowd from the sixth floor of SoFi Stadium as 70,000 fans stream into a Los Angeles Rams home game. Below her, blue-and-gold jerseys mix with charro suits and sombreros, and the low rumble of pregame noise

By MIKE CORDER Associated Press THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The landmark Dutch museum that holds some of the most famous paintings by Rembrandt and Vermeer announced Thursday that it is planning a new branch in the southern city of Eindhoven to give more people access to its vast trove of art and artifacts. The

By JAMES BROOKS Associated Press LYNGBY, Denmark (AP) — It was a wedding that captivated the world — in 1981, Lady Diana Spencer said “I will” to Prince Charles, becoming Princess of Wales and bringing youth and glamour to Britain’s royal family. More than 40 years after the wedding and many years after the marriage

By AUDREY McAVOY Associated Press The painting that introduced “Star Wars” to the world nearly 50 years ago — and was reproduced in an iconic movie poster — sold at auction on Wednesday for $3.875 million. The acrylic and airbrush painting by the artist and movie poster designer Tom Jung first appeared in newspaper advertisements