Ni Kuang, one of Hong Kong’s most distinguished screenwriters and novelists, has died. He was 87. He died on Sunday in Hong Kong, with local media reporting skin cancer as the cause of death. Ni wrote some 300 screenplays, many in the martial arts genre and many for the Shaw Brothers studio with co-writer Chang
Month: July 2022
Sentimental local drama film “Lighting Up the Stars” topped the mainland China cinema box office for a second weekend. Its haul was nearly 40% bigger than in its debut session. The film grossed RMB296 million ($44 million) between Friday and Sunday, according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway, far ahead of second placed “Jurassic World:
“Top Gun Maverick” flew even higher on its second weekend at the Korean box office, holding on to the top spot and fractionally increasing its gross take. The sky-high performance was more than enough to overshadow the otherwise promising opening of Park Chan-wook’s “Decision to Leave.” “Top Gun Maverick” earned $9.72 million between Friday and
Amber Heard’s legal team filed a motion Friday requesting that the verdict of the defamation trial against her ex-husband Johnny Depp be tossed, including the $10.35 million in damages awarded to Depp by the jury. In addition to Heard’s attorneys arguing that the verdict is not supported by evidence, the 43-page document submitted to the
California Governor Gavin Newsom just took out an ad in Florida for what seems to be nothing more than a troll effort … poking fun at Gov. DeSantis, and conservatives at large. Newsom’s campaign ad is 30 seconds, and the word is — he bought airtime on Fox News in Florida markets for this cheeky
Ms. Lauryn Hill reunited with Wyclef Jean at the Essence Festival in New Orleans Friday evening for a surprise performance of four Fugees songs. Although neither Wyclef nor Hill were listed on the original festival lineup, Hill appeared on stage thirty minutes into Wyclef’s set to perform “Killing Me Softly,” “How Many Mics,” “Fu-Gee-La” and
Adele has shared that she felt like “a shell of a person for a couple months” after abruptly canceling her “Weekends With Adele” Las Vegas residency in January — just days before it was set to begin. In an interview with Desert Island Discs on BBC Radio 4, the singer says that she felt guilty about
The market for international shoots in the Czech Republic is “on the edge of a precipice,” says Vratislav Slajer, the head of the country’s main industry group, the Assn. of Audiovisual Producers. Speaking to industry colleagues on Sunday at the Karlovy Vary Intl. Film Festival, Czech producers warned that they are witnessing the impending loss
Amber Heard wants a do-over in court, demanding a judge toss the verdict against her in the Johnny Depp defamation trial … because of shoddy evidence and an alleged fake juror. The actress’s lawyers filed new docs this week in VA, asking the judge to either set aside the verdict in favor of JD entirely,
The Backstreet Boys welcomed Drake as their honorary sixth member during the band’s concert stop at the Budweiser Stage in Toronto Saturday evening. Just as the boy band was closing their set, the quintet introduced Drake as the crowd launched into rapturous applause. Before the band jumped into its 1999 hit “I Want It That
Liev Schreiber wouldn’t be opposed to revisiting “Ray Donovan,” he told the audience at Karlovy Vary Intl. Film Festival on Sunday. The beloved Showtime series, created by Ann Biderman, was canceled in 2020 after seven seasons. Following the fans’ outcry, “Ray Donovan: The Movie” premiered in 2022. “I would consider it,” he said during a
A judge in Puerto Rico has issued a restraining order against Ricky Martin, police confirmed on July 2. Law enforcement spokesman Axel Valencia told the Associated Press that authorities visited the singer’s upscale neighborhood in the north coastal town of Dorado to serve the order, however, “police haven’t been able to find him.” Because the request
“Minions: The Rise of Gru” may be filled with familiar, uh, faces of the lovable yellow creatures, but it transports them back to the 1970s, when Gru (still voiced by Steve Carell) was a supervillian in training and the Minions were looking to fit into his burgeoning world. The latest installment of the popular franchise
Tiny yellow creatures are taking over the international box office. “Minions: The Rise of Gru” ignited to $93.7 million from 61 overseas markets and notched one of the biggest pandemic-era opening weekends for an animated film in many of those territories. Those returns take the fifth installment in Universal and Illumination’s popular “Despicable Me” franchise
“Minions: The Rise of Gru” set off fireworks at the box office, collecting $108 million over the weekend. By the time that July 4th rolls around on Monday, the animated family film is expected to reach a sizable $127.9 million. Based on those estimates, “Minions: The Rise of Gru” will smash the record for the
Even upon its release 52 years ago, Lionel Jeffries’ adaptation of “The Railway Children” was something of a throwback: a kindly, low-conflict family entertainment, faithfully drawn from E. Nesbit’s 1905 children’s novel, that hearkened back to an Edwardian-era England of steam trains, rolling green fields and close-knit village communities. At the time, it caught a
With six decades around the sun, Tom Cruise still feels the need for speed and has crafted himself into one of the most successful and undeniably talented movie stars of his generation. Variety is ranking his 15 best film performances to celebrate the actor’s 60th birthday. With a breakthrough that started in the coming-of-age film
Georgian-German drama “A Room of My Own,” about a young woman looking for a female roommate in Tbilisi after her personal life implodes, has its team thinking about future reactions in the Republic of Georgia. But director Ioseb “Soso” Bliadze and actress/co-writer Taki Mumladze are “ready” to address subjects considered controversial in their home country,
Six months after the members of Crosby, Stills & Nash asked Spotify to pull their music from the streaming service, the folk-rock group’s songs have returned to the platform as of Saturday. The trio in February had joined a protest by former bandmate Neil Young, who demanded that his music be removed from Spotify because
Czech screenwriter and director Beata Parkanova says she had a rich mine of real-life characters and scenes to draw on in crafting her second feature, the retro drama “The Word,” competing in the Karlovy Vary Intl. Film Festival’s main event, the Crystal Globe race. The filmmaker behind “Moments,” a drama that competed in KVIFF’s East
After being hospitalized Tuesday in a medical emergency, Travis Barker has shared that he is “currently much better.” The 46-year-old Blink-182 drummer and husband to Kourtney Kardashian shared a message regarding his health to fans through his official Instagram, explaining that he had a pancreatic drainage tube damaged during a routine endoscopy. He expressed his gratitude
The stars of Netflix’s “Heartstopper” were determined to keep the party going at the Pride in London March Saturday afternoon, joining in the celebration and giving the finger to anti-LGBTQ+ protesters standing on the sidelines of the parade. Series leads Kit Connor and Joe Locke were joined by their costars Kizzy Edgell, Corinna Brown, Tobie
SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched “Here Comes a Candle to Light You to Bed,” the July 1 episode of “The Boys.” “The Boys” fans who have been shipping Frenchie (Tomer Capone) and Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara) for three seasons finally found out if the very dear friends will ever become
With “Better Call Saul” set to begin airing its final six episodes in just nine days, AMC has begun a round of promotions for the send-off to the series. As the show’s chronology begins to approach the events of “Breaking Bad,” viewers are preparing to see some familiar faces, including the return of Bryan Cranston’s
When the cast of “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” was first announced, much attention was paid to all the legacy “Trek” characters who were getting a new life on the Paramount+ series, from Capt. Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) and Lt. Spock (Ethan Peck) to Cadet Nyota Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) and Nurse Christine Chapel (Jess
Should the apocalypse strike and any of us happen to survive it, you can’t accuse the movies of leaving us unprepared. Dystopian futures are a dime a dozen in science-fiction cinema these days, with a generally shared aesthetic that leads us to expect, for better or (probably) worse, a lot of damp, ashy slurry and
Tommy Morgan, a harmonica soloist who contributed to hundreds of movie and TV shows including “Roots” and “Dances With Wolves,” died June 23. He was 89. Morgan played on film soundtracks and record dates going back to the early 1950s. His estimated 7,000 recording sessions, according to statistics on his website, suggest that more people
SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched “Here Comes a Candle to Light You to Bed,” the July 1 episode of “The Boys.” The penultimate episode of “The Boys” Season 3 revealed Black Noir’s (Nathan Mitchell) back story with Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles) in the cutest, and somehow still goriest, way
Although “Nope” is only three weeks away from hitting theaters, Universal has been keeping a lid on plenty of the details of the film, beyond distributing some intriguing images of unidentified flying objects and ranch living in the movie’s trailers. Now, director Jordan Peele is offering a deeper look at the world of the film,
“The Good Night” helmer Jake Paltrow returns to Karlovy Vary Intl. Film Festival with “June Zero,” his first foreign-language production. In the film – picked up for sales by ICM Partners and Films Boutique – he takes a closer look at the trial and execution of Nazi leader Adolf Eichmann, hanged in Israel in 1962.