AP National Entertainment News

By The Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — After just two and half weeks of release, the Sydney Sweeney box-office hit “The Housemaid” is getting a sequel. Lionsgate announced Tuesday that it will start production on “The Housemaid’s Secret” later this year. The film will be based on the second of Freida McFadden’s bestselling trilogy

By JUSTIN SPIKE Associated Press BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — The celebrated Hungarian filmmaker Béla Tarr, director of such works as “Sátántangó” and “The Turin Horse” and the recipient of numerous awards for his long and often darkly comic films, has died at 70. During a career spanning decades, Tarr wrote and directed nine feature films,

By RONALD BLUM Associated Press Semyon Bychkov will succeed Gustavo Dudamel as music director of the Paris Opera starting in August 2028, the company’s general director Alexander Neef said Tuesday. The 73-year-old Bychkov agreed to a four-year contract and will conduct two operas and six symphonic concerts per season, Neef said. Dudamel quit as the

By DAVID BAUDER AP Media Writer In the wake of last weekend’s U.S. military action in Venezuela, the news media got something it has seldom heard from the Trump administration: a “thank you.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio credited news organizations that had learned in advance about Saturday’s strike that led to the capture of

By ELISE RYAN Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — When it came time to decide the cover image for Wet Leg’s sophomore album, the British indie rock band packed items that might provide inspiration — velvet worms sewn by guitarist Hester Chambers, an oversized head of hair from a music video shoot, lizard-like gloves —

By TODD RICHMOND Associated Press MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Michael Schumacher, a Wisconsin author who produced a diverse array of works ranging from biographies of filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola and musician Eric Clapton to accounts of Great Lakes shipwrecks, has died. He was 75. Schumacher’s daughter, Emily Joy Schumacher, confirmed Monday that her father passed

By DAVID BAUDER AP Media Writer Leaders of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private agency that has steered federal funding to PBS, NPR and hundreds of public television and radio stations across the country, voted Monday to dissolve the organization that was created in 1967. CPB had been winding down since Congress acted last

By SHAWN CHEN AP Technology Editor LAS VEGAS (AP) — With the start of the New Year squarely behind us, it’s once again time for the annual CES trade show to shine a spotlight on the latest tech that companies plan to offer in 2026. The multiday event, organized by the Consumer Technology Association, kicks

By HYUNG-JIN KIM Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Ahn Sung-ki, one of South Korean cinema’s biggest stars whose prolific 60-year career and positive, gentle public image earned him the nickname “The Nation’s Actor,” died Monday. He was 74. Ahn, who had blood cancer for years, died at Seoul’s Soonchunhyang University Hospital, his agency,

By JAKE COYLE AP Film Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Hollywood kicked off 2026 with “Avatar: Fire and Ash” atop the box office for the third straight week and with hopes for a blockbuster-filled year after a disappointing 2025. In three weeks of release, “Fire and Ash” has cleared $1 billion worldwide. The third chapter

By MARIA SHERMAN AP Music Writer NEW YORK (AP) — They’re going to light up 2026 like dynamite: K-pop group BTS’ comeback has an official date. According to a note shared to social media by the entertainment company BigHit Music, the mega popular group will return on March 20. That’s after a nearly four-year hiatus,

By MARIA SHERMAN AP Music Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Here’s to a lifetime of pink skies: The irreverent country singer Zach Bryan is married. Bryan, 29, confirmed the news in an Instagram post shared Thursday. Beneath a photo of him holding his bride, Samantha Leonard, 28, he wrote the caption, “tougher than the rest,”

By MARIA SHERMAN AP Music Writer NEW YORK (AP) — The Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny has redefined what it means to be a global giant — and he may once again make history at the 2026 Grammy Awards. The artist born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio is up for six awards at the Feb. 1

By JOHN LEICESTER Associated Press PARIS (AP) — Actor George Clooney and his wife Amal Clooney were granted French citizenship because “they contribute, through their distinguished actions, to France’s international influence and cultural outreach,” the French government said Wednesday, defending their naturalization that was questioned by a junior French minister. The naturalizations of the Kentucky-born

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A Walt Disney World worker in Florida was injured while attempting to stop a large runaway prop boulder from rolling into seated spectators at the Indiana Jones live show. The worker at the “Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular” at the Disney’s Hollywood Studios park was knocked to the ground by the

By ANDREW DALTON AP Entertainment Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Betty Boop and “Blondie” are joining Mickey Mouse and Winnie the Pooh in the public domain. The first appearances of the classic cartoon and comic characters are among the pieces of intellectual property whose 95-year U.S. copyright maximum has been reached, putting them in the

By JEFF MARTIN Associated Press Richard Smallwood, a gospel singer and recording artist nominated eight times for Grammy Awards, has died. He was 77. Smallwood died Tuesday of complications of kidney failure at a rehabilitation and nursing center in Sandy Spring, Maryland, his representative Bill Carpenter announced. Smallwood had health issues for many years, and

By MARIA SHERMAN AP Entertainment Writer NEW YORK (AP) — English actors Tom Hiddleston and Zawe Ashton have welcomed their second child. Hiddleston confirmed the news to GQ in a feature published Monday. He described birth as the “most beautiful, profound, earth-shattering, life-altering” experience. He did not share his child’s birthday, but according to the

BEIJING (AP) — Dressed in a red-and-white warrior costume, Peking opera actress Zhang Wanting balances on one foot on the narrow handle of a rosewood chair. She bends forward, lifts her other leg high and grasps the two long pheasant plumes on her helmet to strike a pose like a flying swallow. From more than

By KANIS LEUNG Associated Press HONG KONG (AP) — Fireworks are typically a celebratory centerpiece of Hong Kong’s New Year celebrations. Not this year. The territory greeted 2026 without spectacular and colorful explosions in the sky over its iconic Victoria Harbor after a massive fire in November that killed at least 161 people. The city’s

By DAVID BAUDER AP Media Writer NEW YORK (AP) — By nearly any measure, 2025 has been a rough year for anyone concerned about freedom of the press. It’s likely to be the deadliest year on record for journalists and media workers. The number of assaults on reporters in the U.S. nearly equals the last

By ANDREW DALTON AP Entertainment Writer Isiah Whitlock Jr., an actor who made frequent memorable appearances on the HBO series “The Wire” and “Veep” and in five films with director Spike Lee, died Tuesday. He was 71. Whitlock’s manager Brian Liebman told The Associated Press in an email that the actor died in New York

By The Associated Press It’s the end of the year and there are fewer new streaming options headed to a device near you. But it’s a great time to catch up on some of best movies,television,music and video games of 2025. The Associated Press has comprehensive guides on the best releases of the year on

By MEG KINNARD Associated Press The Kennedy Center is ending the year with a new round of artists saying they are canceling scheduled performances after President Donald Trump’s name was added to the facility, prompting the institution’s president to accuse the performers of making their decisions because of politics. The Cookers, a jazz supergroup that

By RONALD BLUM Associated Press Yannick Nézet-Séguin’s path to the Vienna Philharmonic’s New Year’s Day concert started when he replaced a banned Russian conductor at New York’s Carnegie Hall in 2022 with the help of a pianist who traveled trans-Atlantic after practicing all night in a Berlin hotel bar. Just four days before Valery Gergiev

By JOHN LEICESTER Associated Press PARIS (AP) — Call them Monsieur and Madame Clooney. France’s government says that George Clooney, his wife Amal and their twins Ella and Alexander have been awarded French citizenship. The naturalizations of the Kentucky-born star of the “Ocean’s” series of heist movies and his family were announced last weekend in

By SYLVIE CORBET Associated Press PARIS (AP) — The funeral for Brigitte Bardot will be held next week in Saint-Tropez, the glamorous French Riviera resort she helped make famous and where she lived for more than a half-century, local authorities said. The cinema star and animal rights activist died Sunday at the age of 91

By DANICA KIRKA Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Britons ranging from Hollywood stars Idris Elba and Cynthia Erivo to a 102-year-old judo instructor have been named in King Charles III’s New Year’s honors list, an annual tradition that recognizes people for their contributions to U.K. public life. Elba, who starred as a drug dealer in