AP National Entertainment News

By MARK KENNEDY AP Entertainment Writer Documentary filmmaker Bruce David Klein had finished shooting for the day when he was told that his subject, Liza Minnelli, wanted to see him privately. He found her sitting on the edge of her bed. “She grabbed my hand. She started petting it and she looked up at me

By JAKE COYLE AP Film Writer NEW YORK (AP) — For once, things are working out for Wile E. Coyote. After being shelved by Warner Bros. in 2023, the Looney Tunes film “Coyote vs. Acme” has found a new home. Ketchup Entertainment announced Monday that it acquired worldwide distribution rights to the film for an

By JONATHAN LANDRUM Jr. AP Entertainment Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — When Jack Black got the call to star in the “Minecraft” movie, the perks were plenty. He got to work alongside Jason Momoa, reunite with “Nacho Libre” director Jared Hess and engulf himself into a beloved gaming universe. But before agreeing, Black turned to

By HILLEL ITALIE AP National Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Two books on the history of indigenous people in the U.S. have received $10,000 awards presented by the J. Anthony Lukas Prize Project. Rebecca Nagle’s “By the Fire We Carry: The Generations — Long Fight for Justice on Native Land” won the Lukas Book Prize,

By MOLLY QUELL Associated Press THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — After sending its most famous work to be featured in Amsterdam’s blockbuster 2023 exhibition of nearly every work by Johannes Vermeer, the Mauritshuis museum found itself with a blank space where the iconic “Girl with a Pearl Earring” had been displayed. The Hague-based institution turned

By MORGAN LEE Associated Press SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A court on Monday cleared the way for the release of investigative records from the deaths of Gene Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, as long as depictions of the deceased couple are blocked from view. The ruling from a New Mexico judge allows the

By BRIAN MELLEY Associated Press LONDON (AP) — The chairperson of an African charity co-founded by Prince Harry accused the royal on Sunday of orchestrating a bullying and harassment campaign to try to force her out as she pushed back following his abrupt resignation from the organization. Sophie Chandauka, the Sentebale chair, took several shots

By JAKE COYLE AP Film Writer NEW YORK (AP) — In an unexpected upset, the Jason Statham thriller “A Working Man” took No. 1 at the box office, besting the rapidly declining “Snow White,” according to studio estimates Sunday. Even after a lackluster debut, the Walt Disney Co.’s live-action remake was predicted to remain the

By BOB THOMAS Associated Press Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Richard Chamberlain, the handsome hero of the 1960s television series “Dr. Kildare” who found a second career as an award-winning “king of the miniseries,” has died. He was 90. Chamberlain died Saturday night in Waimanalo, Hawaii, of complications following a stroke, according to his publicist,

By HILLEL ITALIE AP National Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Steph Curry has a deal with a Random House Publishing Group imprint that you could call a 3-point play. The NBA superstar has agreed to release three books through One World, beginning Sept. 9 with “Shot Ready,” which Curry is calling a “personal reflection” on

By MICHAEL R. SISAK Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — The Voice of America can’t be silenced just yet. A federal judge on Friday halted the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle the eight-decade-old U.S. government-funded international news service, calling the move a “classic case of arbitrary and capricious decision making.” Judge James Paul Oetken blocked

By JAKE COYLE AP Film Writer NEW YORK (AP) — After mounting criticism following its initial response to the violent attack on Oscar-winning “No Other Land” co-director Hamdan Ballal, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences apologized Friday for not acknowledging Ballal by name. In a letter to academy members, academy CEO Bill Kramer

By CHRIS MEGERIAN Associated Press WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump commuted the sentence of Ozy Media co-founder Carlos Watson, a White House official said Friday, just before Watson was due to report to prison for a nearly 10-year sentence in a financial conspiracy case. Watson was convicted last year in a

By DAVID BAUDER AP Media Writer President Donald Trump’s FCC commissioner said Friday he’s opening an investigation into the Walt Disney Co. and its ABC television network to see whether they are “promoting invidious forms of DEI discrimination.” FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr announced the probe in a letter to Disney CEO Robert Iger on Friday.

By HILLEL ITALIE and AARON MORRISON Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump’s executive order titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History” targets the Smithsonian Institution — which has, he contends, “come under the influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology.” Critics have pushed back, saying the order is an attempt to whitewash

By MARIA SHERMAN AP Music Writer NEW YORK (AP) — It wasn’t the night punk broke, but it was close. Nearly 50 years ago, the Sex Pistols — then made up of vocalist Johnny Rotten, guitarist Steve Jones, drummer Paul Cook and bassist Glen Matlock — performed at the 100 Club Punk Special in London,

By DANICA KIRKA Associated Press LONDON (AP) — King Charles III waved to well-wishers in central London on Friday as he headed for his country estate in western England a day after he was briefly hospitalized because of side effects from a scheduled cancer treatment. Charles canceled planned engagements on Thursday afternoon and Friday on

By The Associated Press Will Smith releasing his first new album in 20 years and “Mufasa: The Lion King,” Barry Jenkins’ photorealistic prequel to the 1994 animated classic, are some of this week’s new streaming entertainment releases are some of the new television, films, music and games headed to a device near you. Also among

By JAKE COYLE AP Film Writer NEW YORK (AP) — By the time a film arrives on movie screens, its makers often strive to find ways to articulate how relevant it is, how it speaks to now. But that’s not so easy when your movie is about a handful of people off the coast of

By HANNAH SCHOENBAUM and MEAD GRUVER Associated Press The Sundance Film Festival is Boulder bound, leaving its home of four decades in Park City, Utah, for a new chapter in neighboring Colorado. Organizers announced their decision Thursday after a yearlong search in which numerous U.S. cities vied to host the nation’s premier independent film festival.

By KANIS LEUNG Associated Press HONG KONG (AP) — At Hong Kong’s Art Basel, painter Chow Chun-fai’s new works transport viewers back to the night in 1997 when the former British colony returned to Chinese rule, displayed in the very exhibition center where one era ended and another began. That transformation in the city’s post-colonial

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Thursday revealed his intention to force changes at the Smithsonian Institution with an executive order that targets funding for programs that advance “divisive narratives” and “improper ideology,” the latest step in a broadside against culture he deems too liberal. Trump claimed there has

By JUAN A. LOZANO Associated Press HOUSTON (AP) — The woman convicted of killing Tejano music legend Selena Quintanilla-Pérez has been denied parole and will continue serving a life sentence for fatally shooting the rising young singer at a Texas motel in 1995, the state’s parole board announced Thursday. Yolanda Saldívar, 64, was up for

By DANICA KIRKA Associated Press LONDON (AP) — King Charles III was briefly hospitalized for observation on Thursday after experiencing “temporary side effects’’ related to a scheduled cancer treatment, Buckingham Palace said in a statement. His engagements for Thursday afternoon and Friday were canceled. “His majesty has now returned to Clarence House and as a

By BETH HARRIS Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — Betty White is making her mark on the nation’s snail mail. The beloved actor of “The Golden Girls” fame was celebrated with a new U.S. Postal Service stamp at a first-day-of-issue ceremony at the Los Angeles Zoo on Thursday. Fans that were crowded behind barricades cheered

By MATT O’BRIEN and SARAH PARVINI AP Technology Writers LOS ANGELES (AP) — Fans of Studio Ghibli, the famed Japanese animation studio behind “Spirited Away” and other beloved movies, were delighted this week when a new version of ChatGPT let them transform popular internet memes or personal photos into the distinct style of Ghibli founder

By PHILIP MARCELO Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — A New York City rapper who joined President Donald Trump during a campaign rally last year has pleaded guilty to attempted murder and conspiracy charges after prosecutors say he used earnings from his music career to fuel gang violence in Brooklyn. Sheff G, whose legal name

PARK CITY, Utah (AP) — The Sundance Film Festival announced Thursday that its new home will be Boulder, Colorado, starting in 2027, after spending 40 years in Park City, Utah. The decision ends a yearlong process in which numerous U.S. cities vied to host the prominent independent film festival, which has been a launching pad

By JAKE COYLE AP Film Writer After a yearlong search, the Sundance Film Festival announced Thursday that its new home will be Boulder, Colorado, keeping Sundance in the mountains but moving it out of Park City, the Utah ski town that had for decades provided the premier independent film gathering its picturesque snowy backdrop. Organizers

NEW YORK (AP) — The latest “Hunger Games” novel sold more than 1.5 million copies worldwide during its first week, the biggest opening ever for Suzanne Collins’ blockbuster series. “Sunrise on the Reaping” sold 1.2 million copies in the U.S alone, more than double the pace of its immediate predecessor, “The Ballad of Songbirds and